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HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 




FERDINAND FOCH, MARSHAL OF FRANCE 



HERO STORIES 
OF FRANCE 

BY 
EVA MARCH TAPPAN 

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 




BOSTON AND NEW YORK 

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 

The Riverside Press Cambridge 
1920 



& 






COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY EVA MARCH TAPPAN 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



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APR "c? 



©CI.A565704 



CONTENTS 

I. Vercingetorix, the Hero Patriot i 

II. Saint Denis, the Missionary ii 

III. The Coming of Attila the Hun 15 

IV. Clovis, the First King of France 22 
V. Charles the Hammer 29 

VI. Pepin and the Do-Nothing Kings 36 

VII. Charlemagne and his Kingdom 40 

VIII. The Song of Roland 50 

IX. How the Northmen became Normans 56 

X. How a Norman became King of England 63 

XI. How Normandy became a Part of France 69 

XII. The King who was a Saint 74 

XIII. The Six Heroes of Calais 81 

XIV. The Story of Jeanne Darc 87 
XV. Pierre Bayard, the Perfect Knight 93 

XVI. The Field of the Cloth of Gold ioi 

XVII. The Story of Coligny 107 

XVIII. King Henry of Navarre 114 

XIX. The Rise of Richelieu 121 

XX. Louis XIV and Versailles 130 

XXI. The French Revolution 140 

XXII. Lafayette, Friend of the United States 154 

XXIII. Napoleon the Great and the First Empire 168 

XXIV. "Napoleon the Little" 185 
XXV. In the Days of Marshal Foch 198 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Ferdinand Foch, Marshal of France Colored Frontispiece 
Charlemagne imposing Baptism on the Saxons 42 

After an old manuscript 

Roland at Roncesvalles 54 

From a drawing by V. Foulquier 

Saint Louis opening the Prisons of his Realm 74 

From a Painting by Luc Olivier Merson 

Jeanne Darc at the Coronation of Charles VII 90 

From a painting by Jules Eugene Lenepveu 

Henry IV and Marie de' Medici 118 

From a painting by Rubens. The King is shown presenting the Queen with 
the orb of sovereignty in making her regent on his departure for the war in 
Germany 

Marie Antoinette in the Conciergerie Prison 152 

From a painting by Charles Louis Miiller 

Napoleon at the Battle of Friedland 180 

From a painting by Meissonier. At Friedland Napoleon won a brilliant 
victory over the Russians in 1807. Meissonier said that in painting this pic- 
ture his intention was to show Napoleon at the zenith of his glory 



HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 



CHAPTER I 

( VERCINGETORIX, THE HERO PATRIOT 

Two thousand years ago no one had ever heard the 
word "France," for the country that we call by that 
name was then known as "Gaul." It was larger than 
the France of to-day, for it extended to the Alps and 
the Rhine River. 

On the sunny plains and in the pleasant valleys 
there were many little villages, mere groups of round 
huts made of poles bound together at the top, and 
probably plastered with clay to keep out the wind 
and cold. On the hills, however, there were often 
towns with streets of houses framed of stout tim- 
bers. There were workshops, too, and in these the 
Gauls made pottery, different sorts of weapons, and 
beautifully enameled jewelry. 

The Gauls wore tunics of bright-colored plaids and, 
what seemed queerest to the Romans, they also wore 
trousers instead of the loosely draped robes or togas 
of Rome. The Romans actually spoke of the part of 
Gaul nearest to their own country as "the province 
that wears trousers." They were an enterprising 
people, these Gauls. They built roads from town 
to town, they laid bridges across the rivers, their 
heavily laden barges floated down the streams, and 



2 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

the largest vessels on the Mediterranean Sea be- 
longed to Gallic owners. They had valuable mines, 
and they knew how to work them. They knew a good 
horse when they saw one, and whenever there was a 
well-bred steed for sale, there was always a Gaul 
ready to pay a high price for him. 

Many different tribes lived in Gaul, and often 
there was warfare among them. Then the warriors 
put on their chain armor, their golden rings and 
armlets, and their helmets, each made in the shape 
of the head of some wild beast. They seized their 
pikes and swords and shields, mounted their pranc- 
ing horses, and galloped off to battle, great plumes 
nodding over their helmets as they dashed onward. 

In Italy, southeast of Gaul, lived the Romans, 
the most powerful nation of the age. They ruled 
nearly all the countries bordering on the Mediter- 
ranean Sea. Their capital city was Rome, and there, 
as in many more of their cities, they had handsome 
buildings, statues, gardens, robes of silk and the 
finest wool, jeweled cups, and all sorts of luxuries. 
Powerful as they were, the Romans felt uneasy when 
they thought of their Gallic neighbors. Three hun- 
dred years earlier, the Gauls had dashed down upon 
them and had burned their capital. The invaders 
had finally been driven away, but there was no 
knowing when they might come again. The Romans 
already controlled part of Gaul — including the 
province that wore trousers — and if they could 
only rule the whole country, they would sleep better 
nights. 



VERCINGETORIX, THE HERO PATRIOT 3 

In 58 b. c. the Romans were feeling especially 
uneasy, because the Germans, who lived on the 
shores of the Baltic and the North Seas, were break- 
ing into Gaul, killing and destroying wherever they 
went. If they should succeed in overrunning this 
country, they would next attack Rome. Just at this 
time a tribe living in Switzerland decided to cross 
Gaul and settle near the Atlantic coast. The Gauls 
begged the Romans to prevent this. It was an ex- 
cellent opportunity for the Romans, and Julius 
Caesar was sent to Gaul with an army. 

Caesar soon obliged the Swiss to return to their 
old homes; and then he set out to make it clear to 
the Germans that they would not be allowed to re- 
main in Gaul. He sent to the German chief Ariovis- 
tus and asked him to name a place for a parley. The 
independent young man sent back the message, "If 
I wanted anything of you, I should go where you 
were ; and if you want anything of me, you must come 
where I am." "I am ready to be a good friend to 
you," returned Caesar, "but you may be sure that I 
shall not overlook any injury to the people of Gaul." 
" If you want to fight," declared Ariovistus, "choose 
your own time and come on." Caesar did "come on," 
and he drove the Germans back over the Rhine. 

Now the Gauls were bright people, keen and wide- 
awake. They began to suspect that Caesar meant 
not only to drive away the Germans, but to conquer 
Gaul, and they had no idea of giving up their free- 
dom. Year after year the struggle between Caesar 
and the Gauls went on. At length Gaul seemed to be 



4 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

completely subdued, and Caesar ventured to return 
to Rome for a short time. This was just the moment 
for a revolt, and a young chief called Vercingetorix 
aroused the other chiefs to unite against the invaders. 
These chiefs chose him to be their leader. Then they 
stacked their standards and took a solemn oath to 
be true to their country and to one another. 

But when Caesar returned they soon found out 
that they could not withstand him in open battle. 
"We must starve him out," declared Vercingetorix 
to his people. "There are a few towns that we can 
defend, but every other town and even every village 
that contains any store of grain must be burned to 
the ground. This is not an easy thing for you to do, 
but would it be easier to give up your own lives and 
have your wives and children sold as slaves?" "No, 
no," the people shouted, and before the sun had set, 
twenty villages were already smouldering in their 
ruins. "Let them burn!" cried the Gauls; "we shall 
soon have better ones." 

But the people of the town Avaricum begged that 
their city might be spared. "It is one of the finest 
towns in all Gaul," they pleaded, "and there is a 
marsh on three sides which will serve us well in de- 
fense." Vercingetorix yielded, though unwillingly, 
and Avaricum was not destroyed. 

It was not long before the Romans appeared at 
the end of a causeway which led across the marsh 
nearly to Avaricum. They continued this causeway 
by adding a strong wooden terrace, 330 feet wide 
and 80 feet high ; and on this they built stout sheds 



VERCINGETORIX, THE HERO PATRIOT 5 

of heavy logs, their roofs covered with clay, and also 
built a high fence or screen. Both sheds and fence 
were on rollers and were pushed nearer and nearer 
to the town as the work progressed. They began also 
a high tower from which the slingers and archers 
could shoot. 

The Gauls, too, had been building towers, and 
these stood, well filled with soldiers, all along the 
wall of the town. This wall was too strong for any 
battering ram to make a hole in it, and as it was 
built chiefly of stones, it could not be set on fire. 
Therefore the Romans clutched the great stones 
with stout hooks and pulled them down; that is, 
they tried to pull them down, but the Gauls had a 
discouraging fashion of letting down nooses to catch 
the hooks, and then pulling them up over the wall. 
They had another custom which was even more dis- 
agreeable, for they poured streams of boiling pitch 
down upon the heads of their enemies. Nevertheless, 
the Romans kept hard at work till the tower was 
nearly finished. Suddenly, a slender thread of smoke 
was seen, then there was a tongue of fire, and then 
the woodwork of the terrace burst into flames, for 
some of the Gauls had been burrowing under it and 
had set it afire. 

Now the Gauls poured out of the gates. A fierce 
battle was waged, and Avaricum was taken. The 
Gauls, old men, women, and children, were cut down 
without mercy. Out of more than forty thousand, 
only eight hundred escaped. These managed to make 
their way to the camp of Vercingetorix, a few miles 



6 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

distant. " Keep your courage," the wise young leader 
pleaded. "No one can expect to have success always. 
If Gaul is only united, the whole world cannot 
overcome her." The men shouted and clashed their 
arms in applause, and Vercingetorix set out at once 
to persuade as many tribes as possible to unite with 
him against the Roman invaders. 

The Gauls fought savagely for their freedom, but 
at length the time came when they had to withdraw 
to the hill town of Alesia. Vercingetorix had foreseen 
that this might be necessary, and therefore he had 
fortified the town and stored it with provisions, so 
that if the worst came to the worst, he could retreat 
to it for a last stand. 

On the day after the Gallic leader took possession 
of Alesia, the watchman on the walls reported, 
"Caesar and his troops are encamped before the 
town. They are digging trenches and heaping up 
great mounds of earth for the archers." The Romans 
worked by day, and by night, too, when the moon 
was up. They tapped rivers and filled some of the 
trenches with water. They hid sharp-pointed logs 
and barbed spikes in low brushwood, and they made 
a ring of camps nearly around the town. Soon the 
brave defenders would be entirely shut in. 

Vercingetorix now called his cavalry apart. "The 
Roman works will soon be completed," he said, 
"and if we are ever to get help, now is our chance. 
Do you steal out of the city to-night, and go, every 
one of you, to his home town. Tell your people that 
they must stand by us, and when you come back, 



VERCINGETORIX, THE HERO PATRIOT 7 

bring with you every man that can wield a sword. 
I will do my best to make the food last a month 
longer. Go." That night the Gauls slipped out 
silently from the town and stole up the valleys into 
the darkness, each going the shortest way to his 
home town. 

The days passed, and little food remained. Ver- 
cingetorix watched anxiously for the return of the 
cavalry. But they had gone on a difficult errand. 
Some of the tribes were jealous; some were defend- 
ing themselves from the Germans in their own home 
towns ; some had already yielded to Rome ; one tribe 
declared that they intended to attack Caesar by 
themselves, and had no idea of putting themselves 
under any one's command. There was much delay, 
but at length Vercingetorix saw a cloud of dust, and 
as the sun fell on it, the glitter of pikes. It was the 
cavalry with many thousands of helpers. Now was 
the time for a sortie. Vercingetorix had thought of 
everything. He had made movable huts to shelter 
his men as they moved forward. He had provided 
fascines to fill up the trenches. A fierce battle was 
fought, but the Gauls were at last driven back to 
Alesia. 

Caesar, then, was besieging Alesia, and beyond 
his ring of camps was a ring of Gauls who were be- 
sieging him. The fresh troops in the ring of Gauls 
stole silently out of their camp at midnight and drew 
closer to the Roman works. A sudden blare from 
their trumpets aroused their friends in the town. 
Fascines were tossed into the moats, stones flew 



8 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

from the slings, scaling ladders were thrown up, 
grappling hooks to pull down the ramparts were set 
to work. But the pointed logs and the spikes and the 
heavy pikes hurled down upon them by the Romans 
were more than they could meet, and again the 
Gauls had to withdraw. 

But they did not give up. Once more they dashed 
upon the Roman forces from the rear, and Vercinge- 
torix, coming down from the town rushed upon them 
from the front. The Gauls were more in number, but 
the Romans were more perfectly trained as soldiers. 
It began to grow dark, and the Gallic newcomers 
fled into the night. "Back to the town ! " commanded 
Vercingetorix, for the fight was lost, his last struggle 
for the freedom of Gaul had been made. In the morn- 
ing he called his chiefs together. " I have fought for 
my country," he said, "not for myself, but for all 
of you. We have lost, but it may be that my death 
will appease these angry Romans. Kill me if you 
think best, or give me up alive to Caesar as a prisoner. 
Perhaps he will then spare you." 

The other chiefs were men of less noble strain. 
They talked the matter over. "Vercingetorix will be 
slain in any case, ' ' they said. ' ' To die with him would 
be of no good to us or to him. We may as well let his 
death save our own lives." So they sent messengers 
to Caesar. "We yield," they said, "and we are ready 
to surrender to you Vercingetorix, the man who has 
been our leader in the revolt." 

"Give up your arms," commanded Caesar, "and 
let the under-chief s come forth." Then the under- 



VERCINGETORIX, THE HERO PATRIOT 9 

chiefs came out to Caesar and bowed humbly before 
him as he sat on a tribunal or raised seat built on a 
fragment of the wall in front of his camp, and every 
chief said, "I promise to be faithful to you and to 
serve you." Then a trampling of hoofs was heard, 
and a handsome horse, splendidly caparisoned, gal- 
loped through the gateway of the city. On his back 
was Vercingetorix. Three times he rode around the 
tribunal; then he sprang lightly to the ground, took 
off his armor and laid it together with his sword on 
the ground before Caesar, bowing himself at the feet 
of his conqueror. There he knelt, silently begging 
mercy for his people. Caesar gazed at him for some 
moments, then ordered the guards to lead him away. 
For six long years the noble Gallic patriot was 
kept in a dungeon at Rome. Then came the time of 
Caesar's triumphal procession in honor of his vic- 
tories. The great general rode in a superb chariot 
drawn by white horses. He wore a robe heavily em- 
broidered with palm leaves, and on his head was a 
crown of laurel. An ivory scepter was in his hand. 
The senators of Rome formed his escort and con- 
ducted him through the city gates, through the 
streets, and up to the capitol. Before him were many 
wagons bearing the spoils of his warfare — gold, sil- 
ver, precious stones, jewelry and other products, and 
handiwork of the conquered countries. Then came 
great models of the cities that had been captured, 
then long lines of captives, who had now become 
slaves of the Romans. Behind them walked the 
leaders whom Caesar had subdued ; and last of them 



io HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

all was the noble Vercingetorix, the man who loved 
his country better than himself, and who had given 
himself gladly in the struggle to win her freedom. 
Even the years in a Roman dungeon had not broken 
his spirit, and, loaded with chains as he was, he held 
himself proudly erect. Between him and his con- 
queror marched the legions of Roman soldiers, sing- 
ing songs of victory. They were praised and re- 
warded ; but the Gallic patriot was led back to his 
prison and put to death. 






CHAPTER II 

SAINT DENIS THE MISSIONARY 

Caesar was a pitiless enemy, but after the Gauls 
had once yielded, he treated them justly and kindly. 
Many of those nearest to Rome learned to talk Latin 
as if they had been born Romans, and to live quite 
in Roman fashion. They built handsome houses, 
temples, theaters, baths, and aqueducts. They 
learned how to drain the swamps and how to culti- 
vate the soil so it would do its best. The Romans 
were always famous road-builders, and they taught 
the Gauls how to build the matchless stone roads 
that have lasted for centuries. Gallic schools were 
opened and libraries formed. The Gauls continued 
their old manufactures, and made also glass, silk, 
tapestry, and many other things; indeed, in some of 
their work they improved upon Roman methods. 
Everything went on prosperously. 

But as the years passed, the Romans became idle 
and fond of luxury. If there was war, they were no 
longer eager to protect their country themselves, 
they preferred to pay others to fight for them. A 
great deal of money was called for, and taxes be- 
came very severe. The laws also became severe, until 
at length there was a law for almost every act and a 
heavy penalty for every violation. The Gauls had 
gained in order and civilization, but they had lost 
their freedom. Vercingetorix would have hardly rec- 
ognized his country. 



12 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

But something new and wonderful had come to 
pass. In a far-away little province of the Empire 
Jesus Christ was born, and his teachings made their 
way to Rome. Before this, both Gauls and Romans 
had worshiped many gods. They had gods of har- 
vest, of springtime, of the sun, the moon, the rain, 
and the thunder. Missionaries and teachers now 
made their way into Gaul, and the wretched people 
learned that there was a God who cared for them 
and was sorry when they were unhappy. 

Soon, however, the people who were rejoicing in 
this new faith found themselves in trouble with 
Rome. The Romans were perfectly willing that the 
Gauls should have as many gods as they chose, pro- 
vided that they would now and then burn a few grains 
of incense before the images of some of the Roman 
gods or say a prayer before the statue of some em- 
peror. To refuse to do this was looked upon as almost 
treason to the State; but, of course, no Christian 
could yield to any such command; therefore the 
Christians were terribly persecuted. Some were tor- 
tured and then slain ; some were given to wild beasts 
to be devoured. 

Nevertheless, the teaching of the Gospel spread, 
and missionaries continued to go to Gaul to teach 
and help the unhappy people. One of the most fa- 
mous of these missionaries was Saint Denis. Accord- 
ing to the old tradition, he set out from Rome with six 
companions. Perhaps he went over one of the Roman 
roads to Lyons, which was then the capital of Gaul ; 
then partly by road and partly by rivers he pressed 



SAINT DENIS THE MISSIONARY 13 

on, stopping every little while to talk to the natives 
about Jesus. "You pray to the sun and the moon," 
he would say, "but they do not hear your prayer. 
Let me tell you about the one true God, who listens 
when you pray and cares for you." 

After a while Saint Denis came to a little town on 
the Seine River called Lutetia, or " the muddy place." 
This was the name it bore in Caesar's time, three hun- 
dred years earlier; and, although it now had some 
excellent buildings and its people had been growing 
rich through the river traffic, it was still called by the 
same name. 

The tribe living in this part of Gaul were called 
the Parisii. They listened eagerly to the preaching 
of Saint Denis and his companions. Many hundreds 
came to believe that what the missionaries said was 
true. "We will no longer worship the sun and the 
moon and the thunder," they declared. "We will 
make our prayers to the God of the preacher, for we 
believe that this is the one true God." They built a 
Christian church and rejoiced in their new faith. 

Before long, however, the Roman emperor heard 
what was being done in the land of the Parisii, and 
he sent an officer to seize the missionaries and put 
them to death. The officer journeyed to Lutetia and 
called the preachers before him on the charge of 
teaching treason to the State. They were sentenced 
to be beheaded and were taken to Montjoie Hill, 
where the sentence was carried out. Their bodies 
were thrown into the river Seine, but a Christian 
woman recovered them and saw to it that they were 



i 4 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

buried with honor. A chapel was built over Saint 
Denis's tomb, and for more than a thousand years 
the French people used to shout "Montjoie Saint 
Denis!" whenever they were going into battle. 

Some of the pictures of Saint Denis are just a bit 
startling, for they represent an angel holding a 
crown over the martyr, although the good saint has 
no head on which to put it. He is doing his best, how- 
ever, to supply the deficiency, for he is quietly pick- 
ing up his head from the ground. People forgot that 
the object of such a picture was to teach, so that 
when any one looked at it, he would recall the man- 
ner in which the saint met his death ; and the legend 
arose that after Saint Denis's head was cut off, he 
picked it up and carried it in his arms two miles to 
his place of burial. 



CHAPTER III 

THE COMING OF ATTILA THE HUN 

In 312 the man who was then Roman emperor be- 
came a Christian, and of course this put an end to 
the persecutions of the Christians in Gaul. The Gauls 
had other troubles to meet, however, for the Ger- 
mans were making raids across the Rhine into the 
Gallic lands. Lutetia had now become Paris, and 
here the Roman governor made his home, so that he 
could keep watch of the invaders. 

Rome grew weaker and weaker, and at length the 
Romans almost gave up fighting with the Germans 
and made alliances with some of them instead, call- 
ing them friends and guests and actually allowing 
them — perhaps even inviting them — to come over 
the Rhine and make their homes in Gaul. They 
expected the newcomers, to whom they had shown 
such favor, to prevent the rest of the Germans from 
entering the land, but they were disappointed. The 
lands of Gaul were more fertile than those farther 
north, the climate was warmer, and the sky clearer, 
and the Germans continued to come. One group of 
tribes in particular, the Franks, or "Free Men," 
were especially bold and daring, and it was soon 
plain that they had come to stay and that all Rome 
could not hinder them. 

Before long the time came when even the Gauls 
were glad of the presence of these fierce warriors. On 



1 6 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

winter evenings, in the dimly lighted homes of Gaul, 
fearsome tales began to be told of a terrible race 
known as Huns. "They are coming from Scythia," 
whispered the story-tellers fearfully. "They are com- 
ing on horseback, and they are bringing in great 
carts their women and all their treasures. They 
have tiny black eyes, flat faces, and broad noses. 
Their ears flare out from their heads, their skins are 
painted and tattooed. They have no beards, but 
their hair is rough and shaggy. Their bodies are 
short and square, and when they walk, they look 
like bears trying to stand on two legs. People say 
that their mothers were witches, their fathers de- 
mons, and that they know how to work all kinds 
of evil spells upon their enemies." "But cannot the 
emperor buy them off?" some one would ask; and 
the answer was, "The emperor has already given 
them land and promised to pay them tribute; but 
no one believes that they will stay where he put 
them." 

They did not stay, but pressed on into Gaul ; and 
now the Gauls were glad of the help of Romans, 
Franks, and any one else who could wield a sword. 
Led by their chief Attila, the Huns swept on, killing 
and destroying wherever they went. "Grass never 
grows again where the hoofs of Attila's steed have 
trod," was the old saying. 

Attila claimed that his sword had come to him as a 
gift from the god of war. It seemed, according to the 
legend, that one of the Hun shepherds noticed that 
blood was dropping from the foot of a young heifer. 



THE COMING OF ATTILA THE HUN 17 

He traced her footsteps back to a place where he saw 
a sharp point sticking up out of the ground, and 
found that it was the point of an ancient sword. He 
carried the sword to Attila. "This is the sword of 
the god of war," declared the wily leader. "The gods 
have sent it to me, and wherever I wield it, there we 
shall win a victory." 

It began to seem as if Attila had made a true pro- 
phecy, for the chief with his Huns ran through coun- 
try after country, successful almost everywhere. 
"The Scourge of God," he was afterward called. He 
and his savage followers were galloping straight for 
Paris, and the people of that city were just beginning 
a frantic flight for somewhere, they knew not where, 
in the hope of saving their lives, when suddenly the 
doors of the church were flung open, and a young 
maiden stood before them. The people fell on their 
knees before her, for this was Genevieve, a shepherd 
girl whose holiness they all knew. " I have called the 
holy matrons and the consecrated virgins to come 
together in the church," she said, "and I have bidden 
them to pray earnestly and trustfully to God that 
he will save our city. He has listened to our prayers. 
Go back to your houses, for Paris will be saved." 

This is the legend that has come down through 
the years. Whether it is true or not, it is a fact that 
Attila suddenly changed his course ; Paris was spared, 
and he drove on to Orleans. 

Orleans had new and strong fortifications, and her 
people had no thought of yielding. But after a while 
food began to be scanty, the walls showed cracks 



1 8 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

made by Attila's battering rams, and the Huns were 
drawing closer and closer around the city. The citi- 
zens of Orleans knew that Romans, Gauls, Franks, 
and others were trying to come together to meet the 
Huns, but there was long delay in their coming, and 
perhaps they would not come at all. 

"Be brave and do not let your courage fail," said 
the good Bishop of Orleans to his people. "Here 
is the messenger whom I sent to the lookout on the 
rampart. Have you good news for us?" he asked, 
turning to the young man. 

"Alas, no!" he replied. "I could see nothing but 
the great plain stretching out to the horizon." 

"Go once more," bade the bishop, and the young 
man went again. 

"Are they coming?" asked the bishop when he 
returned. 

"Alas, no!" replied the young man for the second 
time. "There is nothing to be seen but the great 
plain." 

"Go yet a third time, my son," said the bishop. 
"God's aid sometimes seems slow, but it is sure." 

So the young man went a third time, and when 
he came back his face was so bright that the people 
knew he had brought good news. 

"The great plain stretches out as before," he said, 
"but far away on the horizon there is a tiny cloud." 

"The armies are coming! It is the aid of the living 
God!" cried the bishop; and the multitude said 
after him in hushed and reverent tones, "it is the 
aid of the living God." 



THE COMING OF ATTILA THE HUN 19 

So the people of Orleans fought more bravely 
than ever, and soon Attila too saw the cloud, then 
the gleam of the shining pikes, then the banners, 
and last, the thousands of strong fighters coming to 
the rescue of the city. 

Evidently a battle was at hand that would need 
all his forces, and Attila withdrew at once to the 
plain of the Marne River where Chalons now stands, 
brought all his troops together, and fortified his 
camp, arranging a breastwork of wagons around 
it. Then he spoke to his followers: 

"Do you see our enemies coming upon us?" he 
asked, pointing to the advancing lines. "From one 
end of Europe to the other, armies have fled before 
us, and these people too will flee. Glorious deeds 
await you and mighty will be your rewards. Be 
brave. Be fearless, and show our enemies the valor 
of the Huns!" "On! On! Lead us on!" cried the 
Huns, shouting their battle-cries and rushing for- 
ward upon the Gallic lines. 

Terrible fighting went on all that day, and only 
ceased when the combatants could no longer see 
one another's faces. Attila withdrew to the shelter 
of the camp with its barricade of wagons and its in- 
trenchments and made ready for another battle 
on the morrow. "No man shall ever boast of having 
captured Attila, the Scourge of God!" he declared, 
and he built up a great mound of the wooden sad- 
dles of his cavalry. On this he poured out his most 
valuable treasures, and around it he stationed his 
wives. "If our enemies should be on the point of 



20 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

taking the camp," he said, "I shall set fire to this 
pile and perish with my treasures. Neither I nor 
these shall ever fall into the hands of our foes." 

When the morning came, the battle went on again, 
so furiously that, even after the fighting had ceased, 
people could hardly believe that it had really come 
to a close, and the legend quickly arose that high 
up in the clouds above the field of slaughter the 
spirits of the slain continued for three days the 
dreadful struggle. The Gauls and their aids were 
the victors, but they made no attempt to destroy 
the invaders. Attila and his followers were allowed 
to withdraw toward Germany. 

One year later the Huns invaded Italy and over- 
came city after city. The terrible Hun, savage as he 
was, had a sense of humor. In one of the Italian 
cities Attila came upon a picture representing the 
Roman emperors sitting on their thrones, while 
the princes of Scythia bowed at their feet. Attila 
sent for a painter. "Change that," he commanded. 
"Put me on the throne and paint the emperors 
pouring out their gold at my feet." 
? Attila was planning more invasions when he 
suddenly died. His followers raised a great silken 
pavilion and within it they laid the body of their 
leader. Around this marched the lines of the Huns, 
chanting a funeral hymn of praise and sorrow. "He 
was glorious in his life," they sang, "and in his 
death he was invincible. To his people he was a 
father, to his enemies a scourge, and to the whole 
world a dread and terror." They cut off locks of their 



THE COMING OF ATTILA THE HUN 21 

hair and they made jagged cuts into their faces that 
the blood might flow freely; for they said, "The 
tears wept for such a man should not be of water 
but of blood." They then laid him into a coffin of 
iron, next into one of silver, and last into one of 
gold. Lest these should be stolen and his body be 
treated with disrespect, they buried him at dead of 
night, putting into his grave a quantity of weapons 
and treasures. The grave was filled up, and the 
prisoners who had dug it were put to death, that 
no one should know where the mighty Scythian 
leader had been laid. Then, according to their cus- 
tom, they held a great feast with song and jest and 
merriment. 

This battle of Chalons, the true "first battle of 
the Marne," is famous for two reasons. The first is 
because it was so fierce and so many men were en- 
gaged in it. The second is because on the plains of 
Chalons it was settled that the Huns, heathen and 
barbarians, should not rule in Europe. i 



CHAPTER IV 

CLOVIS, THE FIRST KING OF FRANCE 

While there was danger from the Huns, the dif- 
ferent tribes stood together, but when that danger 
was past, each people began to consider how they 
could make themselves more powerful than the 
others. 

Of all the Franks that had come into Gaul, the 
Salii, or Salian Franks, were the strongest, although 
as yet they held only a little land on the left bank 
of the Rhine. Their chief, Meroveus, had fought 
at Chalons. In 481, thirty years after this battle, 
Meroveus and his son were both dead, and the only 
one left to represent his family was a boy of fifteen 
named Clovis. He was a strong, energetic boy, and 
young as he was, he had already shown on the bat- 
tle-field that he could strike a hard blow and a skill- 
ful one. The Frankish warriors voted that he should 
be their chief. "Clovis! Clovis!" they shouted, and 
they carried him through their villages raised high 
up on their shields, so that every one might know 
whom they had chosen. 

Clovis was an ambitious young man, and he 
promptly set about increasing his territory. When 
he was only twenty, he defeated the Romans at 
Soissons, about sixty miles from Paris. Other towns 
soon fell into his hands, and so he became master 
of a wide area in what is now northern France. 






CLOVIS, THE FIRST KING OF FRANCE 23 

There were always many treasures in the churches, 
and among those taken from the church in Rheims 
there was an especially beautiful golden vase. Now 
the young chief had taken a liking to the Bishop of 
Rheims, and the bishop was very willing to have 
the good-will of the valiant young heathen. He 
would have it in his power to show many a favor 
to the Church, and some day he might even become 
a Christian. 

So it was that, when Clovis and his followers 
were about to divide the booty, a messenger from 
the bishop appeared. He earnestly besought Clovis 
to return what had been taken from the church at 
Rheims, "or, if that is impossible," said the messen- 
ger, "to return at least the golden vase." Now, 
among the Franks, all booty was divided by lot, 
and the chief received no more than any one of his 
followers. Clovis spoke to his men. "Will you grant 
me the favor," said he, "of giving me the vase of 
Soissons besides what comes to me by lot?" Either 
the followers of Clovis were willing to please their 
leader or else they did not care to offend so powerful 
a man, for all but one agreed. That one, a surly 
fellow, growled out, "You will have what the lot 
gives you and nothing more." He raised his battle- 
axe and struck the vase a heavy blow. Clovis gave 
the man one look, then, without a word, he picked 
up the broken vase and handed it to the messenger. 

Before long, the time came for his revenge. He 
was inspecting the arms and armor of his men, and 
when he came to the one who had broken the vase, 



24 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

he said, "There is no other man who has brought 
to me arms so poorly cared for as yours. You are 
not fit to be among my followers." He snatched 
the battle-axe from the man's hand and flung it 
down upon the ground. The warrior stooped to pick 
it up — perhaps that he might strike the first blow 
— but, however that may be, Clovis was before him. 
He gave his own axe a mighty swing and brought 
it down with deadly force upon the man's skull, 
crying, "This is what you did to the vase at Sois- 
sons." 

Clovis had no wife, but he had heard stories which 
interested him in a young princess, Clotilde, niece 
of the King of Burgundy. It was said that this 
king had slain the rest of her family save one sister, 
who had entered a convent. Clotilde was living 
quietly at Geneva, giving all her time to deeds of 
charity. Of course Clovis knew that her uncle 
would not allow any suitor to have a glimpse of her, 
lest she should marry and thus gain power to avenge 
her family; so he gave his ring to a man whom he 
could trust and said: "Do you dress yourself in rags 
like a beggar and put a beggar's wallet upon your 
back. Go to Clotilde and say that you are on a 
pilgrimage and ask for her charity. If the stories 
told of her are true, she will not refuse to see a pil- 
grim, and you can give her my message and the 
ring." 

The pretended beggar went to Geneva, and the 
gentle princess gave him food and washed his feet 
with her own royal hands. As she was bending over 



CLOVIS, THE FIRST KING OF FRANCE 25 

him, he leaned toward her and whispered, "Lady, 
Clovis, King of the Franks, would gladly offer you 
marriage. In proof of my words he sends you his 
ring." 

Clotilde was glad. She rewarded the beggar and 
gave him a ring of her own to carry to the king. 
"If Clovis would wed me," she said, "let him send 
messengers without an instant's delay to demand 
me of my uncle and take me away with them. My 
uncle's chief counselor is now in Constantinople, and 
if he should return, he would advise against my mar- 
riage, especially with so powerful a man as the King 
of the Franks, lest I avenge the death of my family." 

The moment that Clovis heard this, he sent an 
embassy to ask for Clotilde. The wicked uncle did 
not dare to refuse, so the ceremonies of espousal 
were gone through with, and the princess was put 
into a covered chariot drawn by four white oxen, 
and they set out with much dignity and splendor 
for the home of Clovis. 

They had gone only a little way before a good 
friend of Clotilde's sent her a message. She called 
her escort together and said: " I have certain knowl- 
edge that the chief counselor has returned, and that 
my uncle has already sent out a troop of warriors in 
pursuit of me. If you would obey your king's com- 
mand and carry me safely to him, do you get me as 
fast a horse as can be found." So it was that the 
bride of King Clovis entered Soissons, not in the 
glory of a chariot drawn by four white oxen, but 
on the back of a horse galloping at full speed. 



26 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

This is the story that has come down to us of the 
marriage of Clovis and Clotilde. Very likely some 
of the praises of the princess that first interested 
Clovis in her came from the wise Bishop of Rheims, 
who would of course be delighted to have the pow- 
erful King of the Franks become the husband of a 
Christian maiden. 

Clotilde did her best to persuade Clovis to become 
a Christian. "You worship gods of wood or stone 
or metal," she said. "They are nothing, and they 
can do nothing for you." "They made all things in 
the world," insisted Clovis sturdily. By and by a 
little son was born to them, and now Clotilde 
pleaded again with her husband. He did not yield, 
but he did promise that the little prince might be 
baptized. This was done, and Clotilde was happy. 
But in a few days the baby died. "That is what this 
baptizing has brought about," said Clovis. "If he 
had been dedicated to my gods, he would be alive. 
The gods are angry with me, and they have taken 
my child." 

Clotilde was broken-hearted, but she would not 
give up her God, and when a second little son was 
born, she insisted that he, too, should be baptized. 
In a few days this child also fell sick. "His brother 
was baptized in the name of this Christ of yours," 
declared the king bitterly, "and he died. This child 
has been baptized, and he, too, will die." The child 
did not die, however, but grew well and strong, and 
Clovis began to think that after all it might be that 
baptism did not harm him. 



CLOVIS, THE FIRST KING OF FRANCE 27 

A little while after this, Clovis was setting out for 
what he knew would be a terrible battle. He hoped 
for the help of his gods, but he was beginning to 
question a little whether they were really as power- 
ful as he had supposed. As he was starting, Clotilde 
put her arms around his neck and said: "Your gods 
cannot help you to win this battle, but my God can. 
Will you promise me that if you are successful, you 
will thank my God and become a Christian?" 

Clovis promised and said farewell. The battle 
was going against him, and even his most trusted 
fighters lost heart. The king remembered his prom- 
ise and he cried out: "Jesus Christ, whom my 
queen Clotilde calls the Son of God, my old gods 
have failed me, and I come to Thee. Only give me 
victory over these enemies of mine, and I will be- 
lieve in Thee and be baptized in Thy name." 

The victory was won. Clovis kept his word, and 
when Christmas Day came, he went to Rheims to 
be baptized. The whole city rejoiced. All along the 
road leading from the palace to the cathedral, the 
houses were hung with tapestry and banners and 
draperies of brilliant colors. First in the procession 
came the clergy, bearing the book of the Four Gos- 
pels, the cross, and the standards, and chanting as 
they walked. Then came the Bishop of Rheims, 
leading the king by the hand. Close behind them 
walked the queen, and then came the long line of 
citizens and men at arms. When the moment for the 
baptism had come, a fair white dove fluttered in 
through the open window, hovered over the altar 



28 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

a moment, and then flew away. From this the legend 
arose that a dove had brought a vial of holy oil with 
which to anoint the king. 

The two sisters of Clovis and three thousand of 
his men at arms were also baptized. He soon re- 
ceived from the Pope the title of "Most Christian 
King and Eldest Son of the Church," and this title 
has been handed down to every sovereign of France. 

Clovis was not exactly what would in these days 
be called a "Most Christian King," for he aimed 
chiefly at conquering more land and murdering 
every one who might stand in the way of his power. 
The kingdom now included the greater part of Gaul. 
It began to be called Francia, or the country of the 
Franks. Its capital was Paris. 

Thus it was that Clovis founded the French mon- 
archy, and also Christian France, even though he 
was not the ideal Christian of to-day. 



CHAPTER V 

CHARLES THE HAMMER 

When Clovis died, his kingdom was divided among 
his four sons, and every one of them was as deter- 
mined to gain power as his father had been. They 
quarreled and they fought, and before long one of 
them was killed in battle. His three little boys went 
to live with their grandmother, Clotilde, and she 
did her best to hold their father's part of the king- 
dom for them. 

The two uncles pretended to be fond of the boys 
and spread the report that they were going to put 
them upon their father's throne. Clotilde was de- 
lighted, and when the children were sent for, she 
made a great feast, dressed the boys in royal robes, 
and sent them to their uncles. But in a little while 
a stern man with a hard, cruel face appeared before 
Clotilde. "Lady Queen," he said, "I am sent here 
by your two sons. Your grandsons are in their hands, 
and I am to ask which of these you will choose for 
them." He held up in one hand a naked sword, and 
in the other a pair of shears. 

Clotilde knew well what this meant. The sword 
was a sign of death ; the shears of disgrace. Meroveus, 
who fought at the battle of Chalons, had long yellow 
hair, and this had come to be looked upon as a sure 
mark of royalty. To cut it off was the same as say- 
ing, "This man is not worthy of the crown. He must 
go away and hide himself in a monastery." 



30 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

Poor Clotilde was frantic with grief. She ex- 
claimed, "Better die than be shorn!" She could not 
think that her sons would be so wicked; but the 
messenger hurried away to them, and on the in- 
stant two of the little boys were slain. An attendant 
rescued the third child, and carried him away to 
safety in a convent. When he grew up, he became a 
monk of his own choice. 

So the reigns of the Merovingian kings went on, 
marked by robbery, cruelty, and murder. The best 
among them was Dagobert, who came to the throne 
in 628. He was good-natured and really seemed to 
care for the love of his people; and this was some- 
thing so new that his subjects called him "good 
King Dagobert." He used to go about through his 
kingdom, stopping at the principal places, and hold- 
ing a sort of court of justice. It was a rough-and- 
ready variety of justice, but people soon found that 
he meant to be as fair to a poor man as to a rich 
man, and this was a great surprise and delight to 
them. 

Dagobert may not have been an especially wise 
man, but he was wise enough to surround himself 
with good counselors and to listen to their words. 
He was interested in beautiful things, and the 
doughty soldier really enjoyed the exquisite work of 
Eloi, his treasurer, who had been a famous gold- 
smith before he became a monk. He made among 
other things a crown and scepter and a wonderful 
golden chair or throne richly adorned with jewels. 
He also did much work for the church which Dago- 



CHARLES THE HAMMER 31 

bert built in honor of Saint Denis. Many years 
earlier, as has been said before, a little church or 
chapel had been built over the saint's grave ; but it 
had become so dilapidated that one day a deer, 
trying to escape from the king, had no trouble in 
springing into the ruin. "It has gone to the good 
Saint Denis for refuge," said the king, "and it shall 
not be harmed." The frightened deer was allowed 
to go free, and in memory of this day the king built 
a church and abbey on the spot. Here was kept the 
sacred oriflamme, or "golden flame." This was a 
small banner of red silk, cut into two or three points. 
Whenever a French king was about to set out for 
war, he always went first to Saint Denis for this 
banner, and after the abbot had blessed it and 
prayed that it might never see defeat, it was deliv- 
ered to him. In battle it was borne before him, and 
when there was any lull in the warfare, it stood be- 
fore his tent. King Dagobert was buried in his 
beautiful church, ?and for more than a thousand 
years it was used as a tomb for all French kings. 

Dagobert was the last king of the line of Meroveus 
who was good for anything. Twelve of his race fol- 
lowed him, but their names are not worth remem- 
bering. They had no ambition to get more land or 
even to rule what they had. They were stupid and 
lazy and roamed about in their ox-carts from one 
country house to another, eating and drinking 
heavily. The only thing about them that was royal 
was their long hair, and when one long-haired king 
over-ate himself and died, another took his place, 



32 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

and nobody knew the difference. People called them 
the "Do-Nothing" kings, and no one has ever found 
a better name for them. 

Useless as these kings really were, there were 
certain things that they had to do, or pretend to do. 
One of these duties was to receive ambassadors from 
other lands. When one came to pay his respects to 
the king, the Do-Nothing would sit on the throne, 
try his best to look wise, and then repeat whatever 
words he was told to say. 

The one whose orders he obeyed was called the 
"mayor of the palace." He was the "power behind 
the throne," and had to be a keen, bright man in 
order to fill the place. As the kings grew weaker, this 
officer grew stronger; and at length he even told the 
king how much pocket money he might be permitted 
to spend. If a king seemed at all inclined to be 
troublesome and disobedient, the mayor saw to it 
that he was poisoned or assassinated, or the people 
would be informed that the king was tired of his 
many cares and had decided to become a monk. 

The Frankish kingdom had become so large that 
it extended far beyond the Rhine and included the 
whole of the present France except Brittany. It was 
not all at peace, and when one Charles came into 
power as mayor of the palace, he had some disorders 
to quell. It was not long, however, before matters 
in^he kingdom were in good shape, for Charles was 
a strong, powerful ruler. 

It was fortunate for France that such a man was 
in control, for greater trouble was coming from the 






CHARLES THE HAMMER 33 

East than had ever threatened the country before, 
save in the days of the Huns. About two hundred 
years earlier, an Arabian named Mohammed had 
declared that God had sent him as a prophet. He 
produced a book called the Koran, which, he said, 
God had inspired him to write. At first slowly, then 
rapidly, his religion spread, until all Arabia had 
accepted it. Mohammed now declared that God had 
given him permission to make converts by the use 
of the sword. He sent missionaries to Persia, and 
when the people of that country would have nothing 
to do with him, he opened war upon them. He 
planned an attack upon Syria and the Roman Em- 
pire ; but died before this could be undertaken. 

Two hundred years after Mohammed died, his 
followers set out to conquer the world. It began to 
seem as if they would succeed; for they subdued 
Egypt and northern Africa, and then crossed over 
into Spain and Provence. Wherever they went, 
churches were robbed or torn down and Bibles were 
destroyed. They were savage fighters, and they 
swept all before them. Sometimes they accepted 
tribute, but generally they would say to their pris- 
oners: "The choice is yours, the Koran or the sword. 
Believe in Mohammed or be slain." 

These were the people who were already in Spain 
and southern France and had made their plans to 
sweep through the whole of France, Germany, and 
Italy. They came over the Pyrenees, crossed the 
Garonne River, and captured Bordeaux. The Mo- 
hammedans had heard of the wealth of Bordeaux, 



34 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

but they found it far greater than they had supposed. 
Their own stories of the capture declare that even 
the soldiers of lowest rank had plenty of precious 
stones, topazes, emeralds, and others; and that the 
whole army was so loaded down with gold and other 
booty that the marching became slow and stumbling. 

To the people of Aquitania, however, the march 
of the Mohammedans seemed far too rapid. They 
had already covered the country between the 
Garonne and the Loire and had pushed into Bur- 
gundy. "Will you help me?" said Eudes, Duke of 
Aquitania, to Charles. "It is for your own good as 
well as mine. Let but these heathen crush Aquitania, 
and you and your Franks will next know their fury." 

Charles was more than willing, and with his ready 
Franks he went at full speed to the Loire River. 
The city of Tours on the Loire was one of the richest 
in the whole land, and he was sure that the Moham- 
medans would try to capture it. He was right. "We 
will go to Tours," said the Mohammedan leaders, 
"and we shall find in the abbey there such treasures 
as no army ever took before." 

If there had been such a thing as wireless tele- 
graphy in those days, the Mohammedans would 
have known that trouble was before them ; but they 
went on triumphantly to the very walls of Tours 
before they suspected that an enormous number of 
Franks were coming down upon them. Evidently 
this was no time to be dreaming about the treasures of 
Tours. Indeed, it would have been far better if they 
had tossed aside what loot they had already taken. 



CHARLES THE HAMMER 35 

Probably neither side realized that this battle 
would decide whether Europe should be Christian 
or Mohammedan, but both did realize that it would 
be a tremendous struggle. Neither Charles nor the 
Mohammedan commander was eager to begin the 
fight. Time was not so valuable in those days, and 
for one whole week they waited and watched, each 
army in its own camp. At last, the Mohammedans 
made a general attack. The Franks "stood there," 
says one old writer, "like solid walls or icebergs." 
Another says that their hands were made of iron. 
They were tall and powerfully built, and their armor 
was stout and well made. Six days they fought in 
something like battle array. Then some of the 
Franks made a dash into the camp of the enemy. 
The Mohammedans rushed back from the general 
conflict to defend their camp. Everything became a 
wild turmoil, a fight between man and man; and 
here the height and strength of the Franks counted 
immensely. At night both armies always withdrew 
to their camps; but one morning no Mohammedans 
came out to renew the battle. Carefully the Franks 
went to reconnoiter. "It is a trick," said some of 
them, "and the heathen have hidden themselves in 
order to dash out upon us." But it was no trick; the 
Mohammedans had retreated in the night, and 
Europe was saved. 

In this battle Charles had swung his heavy iron 
hammer or mace in such tremendous blows that 
after this he was known as Charles Martel, or 
"Charles the Hammer." 



CHAPTER VI 

PEPIN AND THE DO-NOTHING KINGS 

Charles Martel did one good deed in overcoming 
the Mohammedans. He did another in bringing up 
his two sons so well that when the kingdom was left 
in their hands, they did not fight over it in a struggle 
for each to get the whole for himself, but worked 
together to do their best for the country. Before 
many years had passed, however, one of the sons 
became tired of ruling and entered a convent, leav- 
ing the possessions of both under the rule of his 
brother Pepin. 

Pepin was a strong man, but of less than medium 
height, and people called him Pepin the Short. 
There was enough of him to make a king, but for 
some years he seemed to feel, like the rest of the 
Franks, that a people must have a Merovingian 
king, even if he did nothing but eat and drink and 
sit on a throne. Pepin discovered somewhere one of 
the royal family who seems to have been overlooked 
in spite of his long hair, and made a figurehead of 
him. Charles Martel had not been so careful of the 
prejudices of the Franks. His Merovingian had died 
or entered a convent, and Charles had never trou- 
bled himself to search for another, but had gone on 
ruling without one. 

Pepin had a good deal of common sense, and after 
he had ruled for a few years with the Merovingian 



PEPIN AND THE DO-NOTHING KINGS 37 

sitting on the throne and saying whatever he was 
told to say, he sent a messenger to the Pope to ask, 
"Who has the better right to be called king, the 
man who has the title or the man who rules? " " It is 
better that the man who rules should have the royal 
title," the Pope replied. 

This settled the question as far as the monks and 
the clergy were concerned, but the masses of the 
people were still to be reckoned with. Pepin knew 
well that they would not be won by any reasoning, 
but by some showy feat of strength and fearlessness. 
It was a common and most cruel amusement to 
have fights between wild beasts or between beasts 
and men in great arenas, and one day when thou- 
sands were watching a lion attack a bull, Pepin 
waited until both were in a mad fury and the lion 
was getting the better of it; then, while people were 
watching in breathless silence, he rose and cried, 
"Which one among you dares to go and save that 
bull?" No one cared to try. Pepin waited a moment, 
then he himself leaped down into the arena, drew his 
sword, and, if we may trust the old story, cut off the 
lion's head at one blow. "Am I not worthy to be 
your king?" he demanded; and the people shouted: 
"Pepin! Pepin! He is worthy! King Pepin!" In the 
face of such a feat as this, the people had forgotten 
their old feeling that, no matter whoVuled, a descend- 
ant of Meroveus must sit on the throne. The Frank- 
ish warriors raised Pepin on a shield, and the arch- 
bishop anointed him with the holy oil and placed the 
crown upon his head. The Franks were used to obey- 



38 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

ing Pepin's commands and following him in battle, 
and all went on as usual, no one caring in the least 
when the last of the long-haired Merovingians was 
taken away to a convent to spendthe rest of his 
days. 

The Pope had stood by Pepin, and now was the 
time to return the favor. The Lombards, a German 
people, had fought their way into northern Italy, 
had made settlements there, and were threatening 
to attack Rome. Stephen, who was now Pope, was 
too wise a man to be satisfied with sending a letter 
to Pepin. He was particularly anxious to win, not 
only the help, but the lasting friendship, of the king, 
and he crossed the Alps and journeyed to Paris. 
Pepin wished to do him all honor, for he, too, had a 
favor to ask; and he sent his son Charles, a manly 
young prince of twelve years, to represent him and 
give the Pope a cordial and brilliant reception. 

Pope Stephen spent the winter at Saint Denis, 
winning friends wherever he went. Pepin promised 
to make an expedition against the Lombards, and 
the Pope promised to crown him a second time, for 
Pepin felt that his hold upon the throne would be 
stronger if the Pope himself had laid the crown upon 
his head. This the Pope did, in the cathedral at 
Rheims. He did it with generous thoroughness, for 
he anointed not only Pepin, but his two sons, Charles 
and his younger brother. He also gave Pepin the 
title of "Patrician of Rome." 

Pepin now kept his part of the bargain, for he 
and his warriors went straight to Italy. "I demand 



PEPIN AND THE DO-NOTHING KINGS 39 

that you evacuate the towns that you have seized," 
he declared, "and agree to leave Rome untouched." 
This the Lombards had no idea of doing, and now 
Pepin and his Franks came down upon them, over- 
powered them, and shut them up in Pavia. They 
were soon ready to promise anything and every- 
thing, and Pepin went home. Pope Stephen did not 
believe that the Lombards would keep their word, 
but how to get Pepin back was the question. He 
concluded to send an appeal from higher authority, 
and he sent a letter to the king purporting to have 
been written by Saint Peter himself, and promising 
Pepin that if he would come at once to the rescue 
of the Church, he should conquer his own enemies 
all the rest of his life and should be sure of the joys 
of heaven. 

After hearing this letter, the Franks were wildly 
eager to return to Italy. They overcame the Lom- 
bards and again shut them up in Pavia. This time 
the Lombards were thoroughly subdued. They had 
taken a number of walled towns, and these Pepin 
had recaptured. He now made Pope Stephen a pres- 
ent, namely, the keys of the gates of all these cities. 
This was the beginning of the owning of territory 
by the Popes. 

Under Charles Martel Europe was saved from 
the Mohammedans. Under Pepin, the power of the 
Church was greatly strengthened. The rule of these 
two men lasted only a little more than half a cen- 
tury, but in this time they accomplished more than 
the whole line of the Do-Nothing kings. 



CHAPTER VII 

r CHARLEMAGNE AND HIS KINGDOM 

Charles, the prince who when a boy of twelve had 
been sent to receive the Pope, became king at the 
death of Pepin, and a real king he was. He accom- 
plished so much in his reign that he is known in 
history as "Charles the Great," or "Charlemagne." 
There was no hint of the Do-Nothings about this 
ruler. He was one of the most energetic men who 
ever lived ; and if ever a king needed energy, he did. 

Of course, like all other rulers of the time, he had 
to do a great deal of fighting. During thirty of the 
forty-six years of his reign he was continually 
sending expeditions against the Saxons, who lived 
at the north, just across the Rhine. Both Franks 
and Saxons were of the Teutonic race, but each 
despised the other. "You Franks have given up the 
free life of the forest and have built yourselves 
cities," said the Saxons scornfully; "you have taken 
one Christ for your God, and have given up Thor 
who wields the thunderbolts." And the Franks re- 
torted, "You Saxons are only savages and heathen." 
"Caesar with all the power of Rome could not con- 
quer us," declared the Saxons proudly, "and in the 
depths of our wilderness there stands a pillar in 
memory of the day when the legions of the Roman 
Varus were cut down like grass." 

Such were the people whom Charlemagne meant 



CHARLEMAGNE AND HIS KINGDOM 41 

to overcome, for, large as his kingdom was, he 
aimed at making it still larger. He fought his way 
into the forest until he came to the place that every 
Saxon held sacred, for here stood the column in 
honor of the Roman defeat. There was also a for- 
tress. Charlemagne took the fortress and broke up 
the column, and also the altar on which the Saxons 
used to sacrifice human beings to the god Thor. He 
even cut down the sacred oak trees that grew around 
the altar; and now at last the Saxons owned defeat 
and agreed to pay him tribute. 

Charlemagne was, according to the ideas of his 
day, an earnest missionary. Wherever he went, 
he built not only strong castles, but also churches, 
and he sent preachers as well as soldiers. In spite 
of their promises, the Saxons promptly killed the 
preachers and burned the churches. Then followed 
the stern vengeance of the Frankish king. He came 
down upon the Saxons, took thousands of them 
prisoners, and put them to death. He carried away 
thousands of others and scattered them over his 
kingdom. At last the Saxons had to yield, and their 
chief agreed to enter a convent. Then Charlemagne 
began his missionary work in earnest. "Will you be 
baptized or put to death?" he would ask. It is no 
wonder that the numbers of his converts increased 
rapidly. At length it occurred to him that he might 
accomplish still more by bribery. "Whoever comes 
of his own will to baptism shall receive a fine white 
tunic," he declared; and now they came — not 
once, but many times! 



42 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

Aquitania revolted, but Charlemagne subdued 
the revolt, and at the same time skillfully overcame 
the strongest objections of the Aquitanians to his 
rule, for he gave them his baby son for a king. The 
little sovereign was carried part way in a cradle; 
but his escort thought that he ought to enter his 
kingdom in a more dignified fashion, so they dressed 
him in a little suit of armor and gave him a tiny 
sword. Then they put him on a horse and carefully 
held him there, and he entered in all the glory of a 
warrior bold. 

Five years before the Aquitanian war came to an 
end, the Pope again appealed for help against the 
troublesome Lombards. Charlemagne crossed the 
Alps, and now the Lombard king was put into a 
monastery, and his son fled to Constantinople. 
Charlemagne had hardly reached home before the 
Pope sent a second appeal: The Lombards were 
revolting, would he come again? He came, he sub- 
dued them, and he made a second young prince, 
a boy of four years, King of Italy. 

The next appeal to Charlemagne came from the 
Mohammedans, or Moors, in northern Spain. "We 
can no longer submit to the Caliph of Cordova," 
they declared. " If you will come and help us against 
him, we will become your faithful subjects." Of 
course Charlemagne could not say no to such a 
tempting invitation, and he marched with an army 
straight across the Pyrenees and into Spain. He 
took a few cities, and then he marched home again, 
just why is not known. The rear guard and the bag- 




CHARLEMAGNE IMPOSING BAPTISM ON THE SAXONS 



CHARLEMAGNE AND HIS KINGDOM 43 

gage were in charge of Roland, nephew of the king 
and "Lord of the Breton March," that is, governor 
of the borderland of Francia, next to Brittany. In 
going through the narrow pass of Roncesvalles in the 
Pyrenees, he was set upon by the enemy and not a 
man survived. Because of this expedition, Charle- 
magne claimed that portion of Spain lying south 
of the Pyrenees as a part of his kingdom, but he 
never ceased to mourn for his valiant nephew and 
follower. 

Charlemagne's vast kingdom was made up of 
many different peoples, and each had its own kind 
of government. Some had written laws, some had 
only customs that had been handed down, and 
some had hardly anything that could be called 
government. It was not an easy thing to bring under 
the same laws all these peoples with their different 
ways of living and thinking, but this was what 
Charlemagne aimed at doing. Twice every year 
he called together the chief men of the kingdom. 
The more important of these two meetings was 
held in May, and was called the "Field of May." 

In good weather the people who came to the 
Field of May assembled out of doors. There must 
have been great crowds, and the king moved about 
among his subjects with a friendly word for each. 
Leading men from the different parts of the country 
were asked to inform him of the condition of the 
people near their homes, whether they were con- 
tented or restless, whether there was any disorder, 
and if so, what its cause might be. Those who were 



44 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

to consider any new laws that he might propose 
withdrew by themselves to discuss matters. If they 
wished to ask any questions, they sent a messenger 
to the king; or, if they preferred, he would come 
to them and talk things over in most familiar fash- 
ion. When these men had come to an agreement, 
they reported it to the king, and he made the final 
decision. 

To make sure that these laws were carried out, 
Charlemagne gave each district into the charge 
of some officer, or "count"; and to find out whether 
these officers did their duty, he sent out superior 
officers, whom people called the "Emperor's Eyes." 
They traveled from one district to another, looking 
everywhere to ascertain not only whether the laws 
were obeyed, but whether the people were treated 
fairly. If any count was unjust, they quietly settled 
themselves in his house to keep watch of him. He 
had to pay for their support, and in order to get 
rid of them, he usually reformed very promptly. 
» Charlemagne had a vast respect for learned men. 
It is said that two strangers once came to his court, 
saying that they had brought wisdom to sell. "What 
is your price?" asked the king. "Food and clothes, 
a room for a school, and pupils willing to learn," 
they replied. Charlemagne was soon obliged to 
leave for war, but before he went he gave into the 
charge of the learned men some boys of poor parents 
and some who were sons of nobles. When he came 
home, he commanded the boys to show him what 
they had learned. The poor boys had done well, 



CHARLEMAGNE AND HIS KINGDOM 45 

but the young noblemen had trusted that the wealth 
and rank of their fathers would give them success in 
life, and they had done very little. The king praised 
the poor boys. "Keep on as you have begun," he 
said, "and you shall ever be honored in my eyes." 
Then he turned upon the rich boys and thundered: 
"You have idled and gambled and trusted in your 
wealth, and you have disobeyed my orders. Under- 
stand that if you do not make up for this by hard 
work, you will never get anything from Charles." 

A really great man is always glad to gather great 
men around him, and this Charlemagne was always 
eager to do. Nearly all the famous scholars of the 
time were induced by him to come to his court. 
Some of them he sent to Italy and Aquitania to 
advise his sons in their government. Some he sent 
out as commissioners to other parts of his kingdom. 
Some he kept at his own palace. They taught his 
children, and they also held a school for the grown 
folk, a sort of conference where many subjects 
were discussed. It was much the fashion to choose 
for one's self and use among one's friends some 
name from history or literature, and in this palace 
school each one had a special name. The king called 
himself David; his sister Gisela became Lucia, his 
daughter Gisela was Delia. One of his courtiers 
took the name of Nathanael ; another that of Homer. 
In science it was not the custom to study nature, 
but to accept any fancy that occurred to the teacher. 
When Alcuin taught arithmetic, for instance, he 
declared that the numbers 3 and 6 contained "the 



46 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

keys of nature" — whatever that may mean. When 
the planet Mars disappeared from the sky, Charle- 
magne asked Alcuin why this occurred ; and Alcuin 
replied that the sun had delayed the planet. He 
asked why a comet had appeared, and was told 
that it was the soul of a man who had recently 
died. Alcuin often had rather a hard time, for Charle- 
magne was not only eager to learn, but he had an 
excellent memory; and when the teacher explained 
some marvel of nature by one fancy, and a little 
later by another fancy, the king was quite likely to 
ask how the two statements could both be true. 
Long after poor Alcuin had left court and retired 
to an abbey at Tours, he spoke of some of his mis- 
takes and said that they ought to be overlooked. 
"The horse," he said, "which has four legs often 
stumbles; how much more must man, who has but 
one tongue, often trip in speech." Alcuin wrote 
Latin poetry, and the following is a translation 
of one of his poems: 

"Spring. I am fain for the cuckoo's coming, the bird that I love 

the best; 
And there's not a roof where the cuckoo deigns to pause in his 

flight and rest, 
And pipe glad songs from his ruddy beak, but will call him a 

welcome guest. 

" Winter. Delay me the coming of cuckoo! The father of toils is 

he; 
And battles he brings, and all men in the world, however weary 

they be, 
Must rouse them from rest at his trumpet to brave land-farings 

and perils at sea. 



CHARLEMAGNE AND HIS KINGDOM 47 

"Spring. The note of the cuckoo brings flowers and gladdens 

with honey the bee, 
Sends the landsman to build up his homestead, the ship to the 

unruffled sea, 
And the nestlings are hatched by his music, and the meadow 

glows green and the tree." 

Next to Alcuin, Charlemagne was the most 
learned man in the kingdom. He spoke Latin read- 
ily and understood Greek. He studied grammar and 
rhetoric ; he was interested in art and music and es- 
pecially in astronomy. Penmanship he found diffi- 
cult, for his hand was more used to holding a sword 
than a stylus, the pointed instrument used in writing 
on waxen tablets. He kept such tablets and a stylus 
under his pillow so he could practice when wakeful ; 
but he never learned to write a good hand. 

When the year 800 had come, Charlemagne was 
at Rome hearing mass, which was celebrated by the 
Pope himself. Whether Charlemagne knew what 
was coming or not, no one can say, but suddenly the 
Pope turned to where the king knelt before the altar, 
placed a crown upon his head, and anointed him 
with the holy oil. The crowd, probably instructed 
beforehand, cried, in the ancient form of words used 
in accepting an emperor, "To Charles Augustus, 
crowned of God, great and peaceful Emperor of the 
Romans, life and victory!" The Roman Empire, 
once so powerful, had been divided long before this, 
and the western part had not had an emperor for 
more than three hundred years. In crowning Charle- 
magne, then, the Pope was reviving the old title, and 



48 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

declaring him to be "Emperor of the Romans," and 
at the head of what came to be called the "Holy 
Roman Empire," though, as has been often said, it 
was "neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire." 

Charlemagne died in 814. Several years before his 
death, he made his will with the utmost care, divid- 
ing his property among his children, the poor, his 
servants, and the Church. He called the chief men 
of the empire together and "invited" them to make 
his son Louis emperor. They agreed willingly. Im- 
mediately after this, father and son met them in the 
cathedral at Aix-la-Chapelle. Charlemagne, in his 
kingly robes and with his crown on his head, first 
knelt in prayer, then, standing facing his son, he ad- 
dressed him on the duties of a sovereign to the 
Church and the people. "Are you fully resolved to 
fulfill these duties?" he asked solemnly. "I am," 
replied Louis. The king had laid a second crown up 
upon the altar, and he said, "Take the crown from 
the altar and place it upon your head." Louis did 
this, and all the people shouted, "Long live the Em- 
peror Louis!" Charlemagne then formally declared 
that his son would rule together with him, and with 
the prayer, " Blessed be Thou, O Lord God, who hast 
granted me grace to see with mine own eyes my son 
seated on my throne ! " the ceremony came to an end. 

Charlemagne gave strict commands about the 
manner of his burial. In obedience to these, his body 
was placed in a little stone chapel. He was seated in 
a chair or throne, a gold chain about his neck and a 
scepter in his right hand. A Bible lay open on his 



CHARLEMAGNE AND HIS KINGDOM 49 

knees, and a sword hung at his side. In one of the 
laments on his death there was written, "Many are 
the afflictions that Frankland has known, but never 
knew she such a sorrow as when at Aachen she laid 
in the earth the august and eloquent Charles." 



CHAPTER VIII 
THE SONG OF ROLAND 

Roland, who fell at Roncesvalles, was Charle- 
magne's nephew and one of the bravest of knights. 
This is all that is really known of him, but that is 
enough for a legend. There was something so touch- 
ing about the early death of the gallant young Ro- 
land that people told the story over and over. They 
put in what details they knew and added others 
that they imagined. Minstrels sang songs of Ron- 
cesvalles, and by and by some poet, no one knows 
his name, put the story into the form of a poem, and 
in this form it has been handed down to us for eight 
hundred years. 

Of course the poet who wrote this "Song of Ro- 
land" was more interested in making a poem than 
in being historically accurate, and he begins the 
story by saying that Charlemagne had been in 
Spain seven years, winning victories wherever he 
went. Saragossa was the only city not yet conquered. 
Its king, Marsila, realizing that he could not resist 
the great emperor, sent messengers to ask for peace. 

The ten envoys, dressed in the richest of robes and 
riding upon the whitest of mules, set out for the 
camp of Charlemagne. In their hands they carried 
branches of olive. Four hundred mules followed 
them, laden with silver and gold. "We will be bap- 
tized," the envoys were to say, "and we will give 



THE SONG OF ROLAND 51 

our sons to you as hostages. We will agree to hold 
fair Spain as a fief of yours, if you and your army 
will but cross the Pyrenees and return to the land 
of the Franks." 

Then Charlemagne and his barons discussed the 
offer of Marsila. Roland sprang to his feet. "Do you 
not remember," he cried, "that once before this 
same Marsila sent you an olive branch, but that 
when you accepted his submission and sent envoys 
to him in return, he slew them falsely and treacher- 
ously? O my king, let us carry on the war in the good 
old fashion, the fashion that has no failure for its 
end! Let us storm the walls of Saragossa and con- 
quer this maker of false promises!" 

Then arose Ganelon, stepfather of Roland, and 
urged the emperor to accept the submission of Mar- 
sila. So advised others, and then the question arose, 
Who is to go? Roland begged to be sent, but Charle- 
magne refused. Then Roland named Ganelon, and 
Ganelon was sent, in a mad rage and vowing revenge 
upon his stepson. 

Once arrived at the court of Marsila, he delivered 
the message of Charlemagne nobly and as a faithful 
knight of the great emperor should do. Then his ha- 
tred of Roland overcame him, and for the sake of 
vengeance he was ready to betray his stepson and 
his sovereign. 

"King Marsila," said the faithless envoy, "with 
all your power you could never overcome Charle- 
magne in open battle, but by craft and artful cun- 
ning you may do more than you dream. Listen to 



52 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

what I would advise. Do you send costly gifts and 
the keys of your city and many hostages to Charle- 
magne in proof that you have yielded to him. He 
will start for home happy and unsuspecting. Then, 
when he is far ahead, do you come upon the rear 
guard and cut them down to a man. Never will 
Charlemagne recover from such a blow, and never 
again will he venture to cross the Pyrenees or dis- 
turb you in your kingdom." 

"Do you swear by all that is holy to keep faith 
with me?" demanded Marsila. "I swear it," de- 
clared the traitor, "and what is more, I swear that 
the leader of the rear guard shall be one Roland, 
nephew of Charlemagne and dearest to his heart." 

So the evil plan was formed, and Ganelon set out 
on his return, with seven hundred camels loaded 
with gold and silver for Charlemagne, and the rich- 
est gifts for the traitor who was plotting to work his 
overthrow. 

Charlemagne and his knights were watching anx- 
iously; and when Ganelon came in sight and told 
them that all was well, that Marsila yielded and sent 
gifts and hostages and the keys of Saragossa, they 
were overjoyed, and could hardly plan rewards gen- 
erous enough to repay the successful envoy. 

Straightway the camp was broken up and the 
army made ready to set out on the march to Fran- 
cia and home, to their wives and their children. 
Charlemagne did not suspect any treachery, but he 
was a careful general, and he planned that, while 
the main part of his army was marching over the 



THE SONG OF ROLAND 53 

mountains, a faithful body of men should be left 
as rear guard to make their safety sure. To lead this 
rear guard was a post of danger, but it was also a 
post of honor, and when the traitor Ganelon sug- 
gested that Roland should be in command, the other 
knights rejoiced that the gallant young warrior was 
to have this recognition of his bravery. 

With trumpets and banners Charlemagne and 
his followers started on their homeward way. Ro- 
land put on his well-polished armor, buckled on his 
beloved sword Durendal, his trusty sword with the 
golden hilt, mounted his noble horse Veillantif, and 
waved the white banner fastened to the end of his 
lance. Oliver, his dearest friend, whose sister was his 
betrothed, galloped to his side, and soon the line was 
formed. The emperor and his hundred thousand fol- 
lowers waved their banners in farewell and marched 
slowly up the mountain ridges. With the passing of 
every hour, home was nearer, and they were more 
and more happy — all but the emperor. For him, 
too, wife and children were waiting, but he feared 
for his beloved Roland and the rear guard. He re- 
membered that Ganelon had named him for the 
place of danger, and he recalled the look of hatred 
in Ganelon's eyes as he spoke the name of his step- 
son. Then, too, Charlemagne had had a dream 
wherein he had seen great evil befall the brave young 
knight. But such fancies as these were no reason 
for turning back with his army, and though sad 
and gloomy, he marched on away from Spain and 
Roland. 



54 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

The emperor might well have had visions of evil 
befalling Roland, for four hundred thousand of the 
pagans were advancing upon him. There were but 
twenty thousand of the rear guard, for in spite of 
Charlemagne's urging, Roland had scorned to 
take more. The music of Saracen clarions and the 
heavy tramping of Saracen feet could be heard, and 
Oliver begged Roland to sound a blast on his horn 
that the emperor might hear it and come to their 
aid; but Roland was fired with the thought of the 
glory that he and his little troop might win, and he 
refused. Again and yet again did Oliver beg him to 
blow his horn, but Roland would not yield, and soon 
the mighty forces of the pagans were upon them. 

The poet does not hesitate to make a story thrill- 
ing while he is about it. Oliver kills seven hundred 
with the broken fragment of a lance. All but one 
man of the ten thousand in the advance guard of the 
Saracens soon fall, and that one man flees for his life. 
But other pagan thousands were coming, and at last 
Roland sounded his horn. Thirty leagues away Char- 
lemagne heard it and knew that it was the horn of 
Roland, and that he was in dire distress. A second 
time it sounded and even a third, but fainter and 
fainter. Then Charlemagne and his men put spurs 
to their horses and dashed back toward the pass of 
Roncesvalles, where Roland and his little band of 
fifty were doing their best to meet sixty thousand of 
their enemies. Oliver fell, and before long only Ro- 
land and Archbishop Turpin, the fighting archbishop, 
were alive. Four hundred pagans had banded to- 




ROLAND AT RONCESVALLES 



THE SONG OF ROLAND 55 

gether to kill Roland ; but when they heard the dis- 
tant trumpets of the emperor, they fled in rage and 
terror. 

The archbishop was sorely wounded, but with his 
last breath he pronounced a blessing upon the brave 
twenty thousand who had fallen in the battle. Ro- 
land was faint from loss of blood and knew that his 
hour had come. He threw himself down under a great 
pine tree to die with his face toward Spain. "Here 
my emperor shall find me, with face to the foe, 
as a conqueror should lie," he said to himself; and 
then he prayed, "Father, O Father, forgive me my 
sins and grant me to live with Thee in Thy heaven ! " 

Under the pine tree the emperor found his beloved 
knight, and fell by his side, fainting with grief. But 
the foes of the Franks were upon him, an enormous 
army brought together from forty kingdoms. They 
were routed, Saragossa fell into the hands of Charle- 
magne, and its inhabitants had to choose between 
the sword and the waters of baptism. The sister of 
Oliver fell dead on hearing the news of the death of 
her betrothed and her brother. Ganelon met with a 
terrible punishment ; and so the story ends. 



CHAPTER IX 

HOW THE NORTHMEN BECAME NORMANS 

Once upon a time Charlemagne was in a little sea- 
shore town of Francia on the borders of the Medi- 
terranean. As he and his followers sat at the table 
eating dinner, they caught sight of a fleet of vessels 
coming into port. "Those are Jewish traders," de- 
clared some of the company; but others thought 
they came from Africa, and one or two questioned 
whether they were not British. "No," said Charle- 
magne, "those are not traders; see how lightly they 
are built. They are made to carry men, not goods, 
and they are laden with the crudest of our foes, the 
barbarous Northmen." 

Then the Franks ran swiftly to their ships to drive 
away the pirates. They might just as well have saved 
their strength and finished their dinner, for in some 
way the Northmen learned that the great emperor 
was there, and they slipped away into the mist as 
fast as sails and oars would carry them. 

Charlemagne did not return to the table, but stood 
by the window a long while, gazing in the direction 
whence the vessels had disappeared. Tears were in 
his eyes as he turned toward his followers and said, 
"I have no fear of any harm coming to me from those 
miserable pirates, but I grieve to think what evils 
they will heap upon my children and my poor peo- 
ple in the years that are to come." 



THE NORTHMEN BECOME NORMANS 57 

These Northmen were wild marauders from Scan- 
dinavia, who had no fear of the maddest tempest, 
but dashed out into the stormy seas, landing at dead 
of night wherever the wind chanced to drive them, 
burning crops and houses and murdering the peo- 
ple. Britain and Ireland had already endured much 
from them, and Francia, as Charlemagne foretold, 
was also to suffer from their ravages. 

After the death of Charlemagne there was no one 
of his family — or of any other family, for that mat- 
ter — strong enough to rule his enormous empire. 
It was divided and subdivided; and there was dis- 
sension and war; but at length, in 843, a treaty was 
made at Verdun by which his lands were divided 
into three broad strips and given to his three grand- 
sons respectively. Roughly speaking, the most west- 
ern strip became France; the middle strip included 
Italy, the valley of the Rhone, and a belt of land ex- 
tending to the mouth of the Rhine ; the most east- 
ern strip became Germany. This was the first great 
treaty among the European states. 

Meanwhile the Northmen were becoming more 
and more daring. They glided up the rivers of Fran- 
cia far into the country. Sometimes they besieged 
a city, sometimes a traitor let them within its walls. 
The monasteries and churches were full of treasures, 
and so these were the special aim of the pirates. The 
abbot of Saint Denis was carried away and made to 
pay a heavy ransom. Worst of all, sometimes a king 
would agree with the Northmen that if they would 
leave his own lands untouched, he would not inter- 



58 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

fere with their pillage of his subjects. To one of these 
kings the Archbishop of Rheims wrote indignantly 
on hearing that he made no effort to defend his 
people. 

In 885, the Northmen, under one Siegfried, 
pushed up the Seine to Paris. They had expected to 
capture the city without any difficulty, and they 
were amazed to see new towers and ramparts and a 
strong double wall. Siegfried landed alone and de- 
manded to speak with Bishop Gozlin, governor of 
the city. "All we want is to go farther up the river," 
he said, "and if you will allow us to pass the city, 
we will harm neither person nor property." "I do 
not believe your story," declared the bishop, "and 
I will give you no such passage." "Then shall our 
armies launch their poisoned arrows against you, 
and you shall be given over to all the horrors of fam- 
ine." But the bishop stood firm, and Siegfried went 
back to his ships, vowing vengeance. 

For thirteen long months the siege went on. The 
Northmen made great wheeled sheds, each one con- 
cealing a battering ram. They made smaller sheds 
covered with hides to protect men from fire while 
they were trying to breach the walls. They did their 
best to fill the fosse by throwing in earth, leaves, 
branches of trees, and even bodies of their prisoners, 
slain for the purpose. The defenders responded with 
crossbows and machines for throwing stones and 
with long beams with iron points; but now came a 
new terror, for the Northmen had driven three burn- 
ing ships near to the city walls. But the ships struck 



THE NORTHMEN BECOME NORMANS 59 

on the stone piers of the bridge, and the walls 
stood. 

So the months passed. The bishop died and the 
Northmen took new courage. The brave Count Odo 
was now left in command of the Franks, and he 
forced his way through the ranks of his foes to ap- 
peal to the king for aid. But the king was made of 
different stuff. He dawdled and delayed, and when 
he finally came to the help of his city, all he did was 
to tell the Northmen that if they would leave Paris 
alone, they were welcome to go up the river and 
plunder Burgundy as much as they chose. He even 
added to this permission a bribe of seven hundred 
pounds of silver. Such was the king who reigned over 
men like Bishop Gozlin and Count Odo. 

When Siegfried advanced upon Paris, Rollo, one 
of the leaders of the Northmen, was sent to take 
possession of Rouen. This he did, and, much to the 
surprise of its people, he treated them kindly, was 
careful not to injure their buildings, and even re- 
paired their city walls. Here was a viking who was 
actually somewhat respectable. Indeed, it was said 
that he had visited England more than once, not as 
a robber, but as a guest of King Alfred the Great 
and his successor. He was becoming so powerful that 
the wisest course was to make friends with him. The 
king consulted with his councilors, and soon the 
Archbishop of Rouen was sent to the Northmen with 
an important offer. This said in brief: "If you will 
acknowledge yourself to be my vassal [that is, do 
military service when needed], and will agree to be 



60 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

baptized as a Christian, 1 will give you land and also 
the hand of my daughter Gisela in marriage." 

Rollo and his comrades talked the matter over. 
As far as land was concerned, they held a large terri- 
tory already, and they could win more whenever 
they chose, for people much preferred having them 
as settlers and neighbors to enduring the terrible 
sufferings inflicted by their raids. On the other hand, 
Rollo was beginning to see that piracy was not the 
most desirable kind of life. He really had an inclina- 
tion to rule a country justly and fairly, rather than 
to be ever robbing and murdering. He agreed that a 
day should be appointed to discuss terms of peace. 

When the day came, the king took his stand on 
one shore of a little river, while Rollo and his fol- 
lowers stood on the opposite bank. Messages were 
carried back and forth. " I will grant you Flanders," 
said the king. "That is too swampy," objected Rollo. 
"Then I will give you the maritime part of Nor- 
mandy." "That is nothing but forests," Rollo de- 
clared; and the king did not venture to retort that 
the cultivated fields had been laid waste by the raids 
of the Northmen. Finally, land was agreed upon, 
and the Duchy of Normandy was formed. 

Rollo was not fully instructed in the manners o{ 
royal circles, and when the bishops told him that in 
acknowledgment of such a gift he should kiss the 
foot of the king, he stoutly refused. "I bend my 
knee to no man," he declared, "and I kiss the foot 
of none." The bishops urged that it was only a form, 
but that it was quite proper and necessary. "Do it 



THE NORTHMEN BECOME NORMANS 61 

for me, then," Rollo commanded one of his com- 
rades. The warrior bold had no more intention of 
kneeling than his master. Bolt upright he stood and 
raised the foot of the astounded king to his lips. Nat- 
urally the king toppled over, and the throng shouted 
with amusement. The king and all his nobles, dukes, 
counts, and abbots swore solemnly to protect Rollo 
in his possession of the land. He was baptized by the 
French name of Robert, and so the wild Northern 
pirate became ruler of Rouen and much country 
thereabouts. 

Rollo now had land of his own to defend, and he 
set to work to cultivate it and to care for his people 
as energetically as he had carried on his earlier ca- 
reer of robbery. The manners of the wild rovers be- 
came more civilized. Their very names were softened 
for "Northmen" became "Normans," and "Rollo," 
also called "Rolf" or " Hroth," became "Rou." For 
twenty years he governed his broad domain. He re- 
built the towns which his countrymen had destroyed, 
he befriended the Church, and he treated his people 
justly. Wrongdoing he punished with a heavy hand. 
Whoever was injured by another had the right to 
shout "Haro!" and every one within hearing was 
bound to join in the chase for the culprit. A legend 
says that in order to find out whether his laws were 
observed, Rollo hung his golden bracelet upon the 
branch of a tree, and that when he went to look for it 
three years later, he found it still hanging there. This 
might be a little easier to believe if the same story 
had not been told of Alfred the Great and other wise 
rulers. 



62 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

Whether there is any truth in this legend of the 
bracelet or not, it is certain that before long the Nor- 
mans had become more French than the Franks 
themselves. Within forty years after the founding 
of Rollo's duchy, French manners and customs pre- 
vailed, and French was more generally spoken in 
Normandy than the old tongue of the Northmen. 
These sea rovers had a remarkable aptitude for 
adopting the best of the ways of other folk and 
improving upon them; and before much time had 
passed, the Normans became leaders in building, in 
commerce, and even in literature. 



CHAPTER X 

HOW A NORMAN BECAME KING OF ENGLAND 

One of the earliest memories of William of Nor- 
mandy was of being dressed handsomely and led 
into the castle hall, where he found his father and a 
number of other men. The boy heard his father say: 
"This is my son. He is little, but he will grow." Then 
these men, one by one, knelt before the boy, laid 
their hands in his, and promised to be faithful to 
him. He was only seven or eight years old, but he 
understood the meaning of this ceremony, namely, 
that they were now bound to fight for him if he 
called upon them. 

The father of the child was Robert, Duke of Nor- 
mandy, one of the successors of Rollo the Northman. 
Some of the Normans called the duke "Robert the 
Devil." More than one crime was laid to his charge, 
but, according to the belief of the day, these would 
all be forgiven if he only made a pilgrimage to Jeru- 
salem ; and this he was about to do. Robert died on 
the journey, and the boy became Duke of Nor- 
mandy. 

Those were stormy times in Normandy. Many a 
man would not have hesitated a moment to kill the 
child in the hope of getting possession of his inheri- 
tance, and among them were some of the very no- 
bles who had sworn to be faithful to him. Others real- 
ized what horrors of warfare the death of this boy 



64 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

would bring upon the duchy, and they guarded him 
with their lives. He could never be left alone a mo- 
ment for fear of poison or assassination. Sometimes 
he was caught up in the night and carried from one 
castle to another. Sometimes he was hidden away 
for safety in the cottage of his grandfather; for his 
mother was the daughter of a peasant. The King of 
France, to whom he paid homage for his duchy, had 
promised in return to protect him ; but the king was 
beginning to be jealous of the strength of Normandy. 
He did not realize, however, how powerful it was, 
and after William became a man, the king swept into 
the duchy with his forces, expecting to conquer it at 
a dash. On the contrary, he was driven from the 
land so promptly that he was only too glad to make 
peace. 

William was able also to make his peace with the 
Pope. The duke had married Matilda of Flanders, 
although for some reason that is not clearly under- 
stood the Pope had objected. He was after some 
years persuaded to confirm the marriage on condi- 
tion that William and Matilda would build four 
hospitals, one in each of the four chief towns of Nor- 
mandy, and also one convent for men and one for 
women. 

Life was now moving more easily for William, but 
his greatest adventure still lay before him. This is 
the way it came about. A few years before William 
was born, his great aunt and her husband were 
driven from the English throne and with their two 
little boys fled to Normandy. Edward, the elder of 



KING OF ENGLAND A NORMAN 65 

the two boys, was twenty-five years older than the 
young duke, and he promised William that if he ever 
became King of England, he would bequeath him 
the English crown. It did not seem to enter his mind 
that the English people might have a word to say 
about the matter. 

William never forgot this promise of King Ed- 
ward, and he watched every movement of the peo- 
ple across the English Channel. One of the most 
prominent of these people was Earl Harold, son of a 
powerful noble. Edward had at last begun to sus- 
pect that the English would not accept a foreigner 
as king, and his thoughts, as well as the wishes of 
the English people, turned toward Harold. William 
had learned this, and when one day Harold went out 
sailing and a storm drove his boat upon the coast 
of Normandy, William's mind was made up just 
what course to follow. 

Day after day passed in royal entertainment for 
the visitor, with feasts, games, hunting, hawking, 
even a choice bit of warfare, for William invited his 
guest to help him subdue a disobedient vassal. On 
the way home from this amusement, they were riding 
along side by side when William began to talk of the 
days when King Edward lived at his father's castle. 
" He was like an older brother to me," said the duke, 
"and he promised to bequeath me his crown if he 
should ever become King of England. There may 
be difficulties in the way, and if you will promise me 
your aid, I promise in return to do for you whatever 
you may ask of me." 



66 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

Harold well knew that if he refused he would prob- 
ably be thrown into one of the dungeons in Wil- 
liam's castle, and he made the promise. A few days 
later, William invited him to come to an assembly 
of the barons. A table covered with cloth of gold 
stood before the duke. On it were two reliquaries, or 
caskets holding relics of the saints. "Harold," said 
William, "you have already promised to aid me in 
gaining the throne of England. I ask you now to 
swear to this on these relics of the saints and in the 
presence of my barons." Harold laid his hands on 
the two reliquaries and took the oath. To swear on 
the bones of the less important saints was looked 
upon as a sin, of course, but a sin for which one 
might by doing penance win forgiveness, and prob- 
ably Harold had no idea of keeping his promise; 
but suddenly the cloth of gold was removed, and he 
was aghast to see that he had sworn on a great tub 
full to the brim of the most sacred relics of the 
Church in Normandy. 

Early in 1066 King Edward died, and Harold was 
made king. William at once sent a swift messenger 
to say to him, "William, Duke of Normandy, re- 
calls to you the oath that you swore to him on the 
relics of the saints." Harold replied: "An oath sworn 
under compulsion is not binding. Moreover, the 
kingship belongs not to me, but to the country. I 
cannot put it from me without the country's con- 
sent." 

Then began mighty preparations for conquest. 
Many hundred vessels were brought together at the 



KING OF ENGLAND A NORMAN 67 

mouth of the Dive River, and many thousand men 
crossed the Channel. The battle which followed was 
called the battle of Hastings, because it was fought 
seven miles from Hastings. The Normans marched 
on toward the hill of Senlac, where the English were 
drawn up. There were slingers and archers in the 
Norman lines. There were the heavy-armed infan- 
try ; there were knights with sword and lance. There 
was even a warlike bishop, William's half-brother. 
The Church forbade him to use sword or spear for 
the shedding of blood, but he persuaded himself that 
it was not unlawful to swing a club. The duke him- 
self bore neither lance nor javelin, but a heavy iron 
mace, a terrible weapon in the hands of so powerful 
a man. 

Suddenly a rider galloped out in front of the Nor- 
man line, Taillefer, the minstrel. "My lord," he said 
to William, "I have served you long. Reward me 
this day for my services. Grant me to strike the first 
blow in the battle." "I grant it!" cried William. 
Then the minstrel sang the old ballads of Roland at 
Roncesvalles. He tossed his sword into the air and 
caught it as it fell. He made his horse curvet and 
caracole. Wheeling about, he galloped up to the lines 
of the English, thrust his lance through one man, cut 
down another with his sword, and in another mo- 
ment himself lay dead, struck down by many an 
English weapon. 

This was the beginning of a battle which made 
William of Normandy King of England. It was also 
the beginning of the holding of English land by 



68 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE! 

French dukes, and of French land by English sov- 
ereigns. Of course this was bound to make trouble 
between the two countries, and it was five hundred 
years before England was forced to surrender the 
last bit of her French possessions. 



CHAPTER XI 

HOW NORMANDY BECAME A PART OF FRANCE 

Some twenty years after the great adventure of 
William the Norman, or William the Conqueror, as 
he came to be called, a strange figure was seen in 
France, going about from one place to another. He 
wore a woolen tunic and over it a rough serge cloak 
which reached to his heels. He was bareheaded and 
barefooted, and as he rode along on the back of a 
rather forlorn-looking mule, he stretched out one 
bare arm before him, carrying a crucifix in his hand. 
Wherever he stopped, the people gathered about 
him, and he preached to them in simple, homely 
words which, nevertheless, were eloquent and moved 
them wonderfully. They followed him in crowds. 
They treasured hairs from his mule to keep as pre- 
cious relics. They brought their quarrels to him and 
yielded to his decisions. They loaded him with gifts 
— which he gave away to the first person whom he 
saw in need. 

This strange, eloquent man was Peter the Hermit. 
He, as well as Robert of Normandy and thousands 
of others, had been on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The 
Holy City had long been in the hands of the Turks, 
but pilgrims had been permitted to pass within its 
gates on payment of a tax. Another race of Turks, 
however, had captured Jerusalem, and now Chris- 
tian pilgrims were not only obliged to pay large 



70 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

taxes, but they were robbed and tortured and often 
murdered. This was the story told by Peter the 
Hermit, and he begged his hearers to free the Holy 
Land from the infidels. 

Pope Urban II had met Peter and believed in him 
and his message, and in a great meeting held on the 
plain of Clermont in France, Urban urged the thou- 
sands of people before him to put on their breasts 
or shoulders the red cross that was to be the sign of 
their vow to rescue the city of their Lord. He bade 
none but strong men go on the crusade, but the vast 
company that set out was a strange medley of men, 
women, and children, of good people and bad peo- 
ple — thieves, drunkards, and all sorts of rascals. 
Better soldiers soon followed them, and Jerusalem 
was taken. It remained in the hands of the Chris- 
tians less than a century, then fell again into those 
of the Turks. One of the crusades undertaken in 
hope of recovering it might well have been called 
the royal crusade or the crusade of the kings, for it 
was led by King Philip Augustus of France and 
Richard the Lion-Hearted of England. 

When Philip was only fifteen, his father became 
very ill, and, as in the case of Charlemagne, he 
wished to see his son crowned before his death. So 
all the princes and nobles hastened to Rheims, and 
in the great cathedral the crown was placed upon 
the boy's head. His father died a few months later, 
and Philip was left to rule alone. He was an ambi- 
tious young king, and his great dream was to make 
his kingdom as large as it had been in the days of 



NORMANDY A PART OF FRANCE 71 

Charlemagne. There was not much prospect of this 
coming true, and of course Philip knew it; but he 
had another dream not quite so ambitious, namely, 
that some day he would make Normandy a part of 
the kingdom of France, and this was not at all 
impossible. 

Into the midst of Philip's dreams the news came 
that the Turks had captured the Holy City. All 
Europe was bewailing its loss. No king could hope 
to be honored by his people who did not do his best 
to help recover Jerusalem. Men were half wild to go 
on a crusade, and those who could not go submitted 
willingly to a tax amounting to one tenth of their 
property in order to pay the expenses of an expe- 
dition. Philip and Richard started for the Holy 
Land. Each wanted to be the hero of the crusade, 
and as the glory was inclined to fall into the hands 
of Richard, Philip was not at all pleased, and before 
long he set out on his return to France. 

Besides his jealousy, Philip had another reason 
for hastening home. He had made a solemn promise 
not to touch Richard's land or to injure him in any 
way while he was on the crusade. To break such a 
promise would be a serious matter and would get 
Philip into trouble, not only with English and Nor- 
mans and even some of his own people, but also 
with the Church. If, however, he could persuade the 
Pope to release him from the promise, he could seize 
the land before Richard could get home — and this 
land was the coveted Normandy. 

But the Pope refused to have anything to do with 



72 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

such a trick, and Philip set to work to form new 
plans. His first step was to make a bargain with 
John, Richard's younger brother. Philip was to help 
John get possession of the English throne, and in 
return John was to agree not to interfere with Phil- 
ip's seizing Normandy. All was going on smoothly for 
the treacherous plotters when news came that Rich- 
ard had made a truce with the Turks which would 
permit pilgrims to visit Jerusalem in peace, and was 
already on his way home. A little later they learned 
that he had been shipwrecked and was now in the 
hands of the Emperor of Germany. This suited 
them to perfection, and they offered the emperor 
a large sum of money if he would hold on to his cap- 
tive. Possibly the emperor guessed what the plotters 
were about and did not care to increase the power 
of France; but, however that may be, he accepted 
the offer of the English people to pay a huge ransom 
for their crusader king and set Richard free. "Be- 
ware, the devil is unchained," wrote Philip to John. 

Richard was never revengeful, and he forgave his 
brother. Then he set out to try to protect Normandy, 
but he was slain, and John was now King of England 
and Duke of Normandy, although Normandy — 
and England too for that matter — belonged to his 
young nephew Arthur. 

The people of Normandy did not like John, and 
Philip found them more than willing to accept 
Arthur for their duke. But Arthur fell into his 
uncle's hands and was put into prison. One day the 
door of his room was thrown open and King John 



NORMANDY A PART OF FRANCE 73 

entered. He spoke to the boy pleasantly and asked 
him if he would like to have a row on the Seine 
River. Of course he was delighted, and they got into 
the boat. When they had come to a lonely place, 
King John suddenly drew his sword, turned upon 
his nephew, and stabbed him to the heart. This is 
the story that was generally believed, and, at any 
rate, Arthur was never seen again. 

John was now King of England, to be sure, but 
he was also Duke of Normandy, and as duke he 
was a vassal of Philip and must obey him if he 
wished to keep the Norman lands. Philip summoned 
him to come for trial on the charge of having mur- 
dered his nephew. He paid no attention to the sum- 
mons, and Philip — not at all unwillingly — de- 
clared his lands forfeited. So it was that Normandy 
became a part of the kingdom of France. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE KING WHO WAS A SAINT 

When Prince Louis was only twelve years old, the 
death of his father made him King Louis IX. Fortu- 
nately for the boy, his mother, Queen Blanche, was 
a very wise woman. She knew that the barons would 
be likely to refuse to support her son, but they were 
scattered over the kingdom, and before they could 
come together and make any definite plots, she had 
him firmly seated on the throne and the govern- 
ment going on in his name. 

Within two weeks after the funeral of his father, 
Louis was made a knight. There was a long cere- 
mony, of course, but on the same day the court 
moved to Rheims for the coronation ; and that night 
the young king kept vigil before the altar in the 
great lonely cathedral. On the following day, al- 
though he must have been a very tired and sleepy 
boy, he walked up to the altar barefooted before a 
great company of knights, bishops, peers, and peer- 
esses, and there took a solemn oath to be faithful to 
God and the Church, and to deal justly with his 
people. He was anointed with the holy oil, the royal 
scepter of power was placed in his right hand, and 
the small rod of mercy in his left, and then the 
crown of France was laid upon his head. 

Louis was King of France, and everything was 
done in his name, but the queen was the real ruler 



THE KING WHO WAS A SAINT 75 

and guardian of her son. In those days people be- 
lieved that children should be brought up with the 
greatest severity, and although Queen Blanche 
loved her son with all her heart, she would have 
thought herself a weak and foolish woman if she 
had not treated him with sternness. When he was 
fourteen, she put him into the hands of a tutor who 
believed that the upright, obedient boy ought to be 
whipped every day because it would be good disci- 
pline for him. Kings cannot run away, so the boy 
had to bear it as best he could, and somehow he 
never lost his kind, gentle disposition and his love of 
making the people around him happy. 

Queen Blanche ruled the land wisely and man- 
aged to subdue the turbulent barons. In spite of her 
strictness, Louis loved her, and even after he came 
of age to rule by himself, he always set the highest 
value upon her advice. Kind and thoughtful of 
others as he was, he would never yield when he was 
sure that he was in the right. He gave careful con- 
sideration to the question whether he ought not to 
return Normandy to England; but when some of 
the French barons tried to get possession of portions 
of the land properly belonging to the crown, he 
would not give up a single inch. To his own brother 
he said, "Charles, there must be only one king in 
France." 

Although Louis stood so resolutely for his rights, 
he was full of sympathy for all in need. With his 
own hands he cared for lepers too loathsome for 
others to touch. In remembrance of Jesus' washing 



76 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

the feet of his disciples, this humble sovereign 
washed the feet of poor beggars one day of each 
week. He even bore it patiently when one of the 
beggars found fault with him for not doing the work 
more thoroughly. It is no wonder that even during 
his lifetime he was known as "Saint Louis." 

But this royal saint had a keen sense of humor, 
and was never at a loss for a witty reply. At festi- 
vals and on all public occasions he always dressed 
handsomely, but aside from this he wore such simple 
clothes that his wife objected. "You wish me to 
wear costly stuffs," he said to her; "but since the 
wedding law holds that the wife must please the 
husband and the husband the wife, you must, in 
your turn, be kind enough to put off all your fine 
attire. You conform to my ways and I to yours." 
When some one ventured to hint that he was giving 
too much time to prayer, he said, " But no one would 
criticize me for giving as much time to hunting or to 
dice; why, then, should I be blamed for spending 
the time in praying?" 

Of course King Louis was deeply interested in 
the crusades, and he must have often longed ear- 
nestly but vainly to take part in them. He was never 
strong, and after a while the time came when he 
was dangerously ill. Throughout the whole land the 
churches were crowded with people praying for his 
recovery. His subjects fasted, they gave alms, they 
made long processions, they did everything that 
they hoped would win the favor of Heaven to spare 
the life of their beloved king ; but Louis grew worse 



THE KING WHO WAS A SAINT 77 

and worse. The day came when, in spite of doctors 
and the holiest relics of Saint Denis, the king, who 
had long been unconscious, was apparently dead, 
and one of the nurses drew a cloth over his face. 
Suddenly from under the cloth there came a feeble 
voice, "God hath brought me back from the shadow 
of death," and the weeping was changed to rejoicing. 

It was but a little while before Louis sent for the 
Bishop of Paris. "Bring me the cross of a crusader," 
he commanded. The bishop tried his best to dis- 
suade him, but Louis insisted, and finally the cross 
was laid upon his breast. After he had recovered, 
Queen Blanche, bishops, and courtiers all told him 
in what danger he would leave his kingdom if he 
went on a crusade. They reminded him that when 
he took the cross he was too feeble to be responsible 
for what he was doing. Louis quietly handed the 
cross back to the bishop. Then he said, " I lack now 
neither sense nor reason; I am not weak, and I am 
not at the point of death; and now I demand my 
cross back again." 

Of course many knights followed his example 
and put on the cross, but more were needed, and to 
induce them to go he played a little trick upon them. 
It was his custom to give each of his nobles a hand- 
some cloak at the door of the church when they 
came to Mass at dawn on Christmas morning. Be- 
hold, when they had come through the darkness into 
the candlelight of the church and knelt in prayer, 
every man saw on the shoulder of each of his neigh- 
bors an embroidered cross. They took the trick good- 



78 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

naturedly, however, and called the king a new hunter 
of pilgrims and fisher of men. 

King and nobles made their wills, said their fare- 
wells, and set sail to cross the Mediterranean. It 
was a gorgeous display. The sails of the ships were 
of scarlet, gold, green, or purple, and the ships 
themselves were painted in all the colors of the 
rainbow. When at length they reached Egypt, the 
eager king sprang ashore into water breast-high, 
the first of the band of crusaders. "Montjoie Saint 
Denis!" they shouted as they pushed on against 
the Saracens. 

So brave a beginning ought to have led to success, 
but there was trouble almost from the first. They 
were besieged by the Saracens; pestilence and star- 
vation were upon them. The king himself was ter- 
ribly ill. Thousands of the crusaders were shut into 
a court with a single door. Through this door they 
were led out one by one. "Will you become a fol- 
lower of Mohammed?" was asked of each. Those 
who refused were beheaded on the instant. King 
Louis would willingly have been among the martyrs, 
but he was a king, and his captors could get an 
enormous ransom for him; surely they were not so 
foolish as to let harm befall him. Handsome clothes 
were provided, and a friar who knew both French 
and Arabic was allowed to attend him; but before 
they discovered what was going on, the earnest 
prisoner was trying his best to convert his jailers to 
Christianity by means of this interpreter. Some of 
the wild Saracens demanded that he should make 



THE KING WHO WAS A SAINT 79 

them knights ; but he steadfastly refused to give the 
blessing of Christ to heathen arms, even though 
refusing this request endangered his life. At last a 
treaty was made, the ransom was paid, and the king 
and his followers were allowed to go free. One of 
them reported with great glee that the Saracens had 
gone off with only part of the promised ransom. 
The king overheard this. "Go after them," he com- 
manded, "and see to it that the amount is "paid 
in full." Those who had not died either in battle 
or in prison sailed for home. The crusade was a 
failure. 

The power of the Saracens increased. The Chris- 
tians had a strip of coast land, but they were being 
rapidly driven from even that. "The cross is con- 
quered. God sleeps!" was the wail that came to the 
king's ears. Seventeen years after his first crusade 
Louis prepared for a second. He was so feeble that 
he had to be carried in the arms of a man to church 
and convent to make his farewells. All knew that 
the king would never return, but he went away hap- 
pily, less in the hope of conquest than in the longing 
to win his enemies for Christ. Pestilence and the 
hot winds of the desert overcame what little strength 
remained to him. By his orders sacking was spread 
over a bed of cinders, and there the beloved king was 
laid to die. "Jerusalem, Jerusalem!" he murmured. 
"Lord, have pity on Thy people whom I have led 
here. Send them to their homes in safety. Let them 
not fall into the hands of Thy enemies, nor let them 
be forced to deny Thy Holy Name." 



8o 



HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 



So died Saint Louis, the blameless king, and so 
ended the crusades. Jerusalem remained in the 
hands of the Turks until, in 1917, it was captured 
by General Allenby of the British army. y 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE SIX HEROES OF CALAIS 

In 1328, the King of France lay hopelessly ill, and 
who should succeed him was a question. He had no 
children, but he had a sister, Isabella, and in Eng- 
land the crown would have been given to her. Among 
one branch of the ancient Franks, however, the 
Salians, who lived on the lower Rhine, there was a 
law that no woman should rule the Salic lands. 
Therefore, when the king died, the French gave the 
crown to his cousin Philip. 

But in England Edward III, a shrewd, wide- 
awake sovereign, was watching matters closely. He 
was the son of Isabella, and he argued that even if a 
woman could not reign, her son could. The lawyers 
of Europe did not agree with him, but, nevertheless, 
he took the title of King of France and in 1337 set 
to work to make it valid by force of arms. 

He won a great naval victory off Sluys, on the 
Flemish coast, and destroyed the French fleet. He 
ravaged Normandy, won the famous battle of 
Cr6cy, and then marched on to Calais. He settled 
his troops as comfortably as possible, building for 
them a town of wooden huts thatched with straw. 
These were arranged in streets, and there was also 
a market-place where twice a week bread, meat, 
cloth, and many other comforts from England were 
for sale. 



82 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

The wealthy people of Calais had been filling their 
houses with provisions, but the poorer people had 
not been able to do this, and the governor of the 
place now sent them out from the city to seek homes 
and food wherever they might. Edward III was a 
stern ruler, but his heart was touched by the sight 
of these hungry, suffering folk. He told his men to 
pass them through the lines in safety, and he 
ordered a hearty dinner to be prepared for them. 
Then he gave some money to each one, and so let 
them go. 

The French king had not forgotten the plight of 
Calais, and he bade every knight and every squire 
of his realm come with him to its aid; and before 
long, the watchmen on the walls of the city saw 
two hundred thousand men marching to their help 
with banners flying in the moonlight. 

But even after they had come, the passes were so 
carefully guarded that they found no opportunity 
for battle. They sent envoys to Edward and asked 
him, in rather childlike fashion, if he would name 
some place for a battle. Edward replied that if the 
French were so eager to fight, they might have come 
sooner; but that he had now done so much that he 
expected to be master of Calais in a very short time ; 
and in any case, he had no idea of arranging his 
affairs to suit their convenience. At this the King of 
France withdrew and disbanded his troops. 

The governor of Calais, however, was of quite 
different mettle. He had no idea of surrender, but 
the people of the town had now held out for nearly 



THE SIX HEROES OF CALIAS 83 

a year, and they begged the governor to ask for a 
parley; so he mounted the battlements and made a 
sign that he wished to talk with envoys from the 
English king. Edward sent Sir Walter de Manny, 
a brave and honorable knight, to hold a parley with 
them. Of Sir Walter the governor asked that his 
people might be allowed to go free, leaving the city 
with all its wealth to King Edward. 

"That will not satisfy him," replied Sir Walter. 
"Your obstinate defense has cost him not only 
money, but many lives. He is enraged, and he de- 
clares that the life of every one in this town must be 
given into his hands, that he may do as he pleases 
with it, either accept ransom or destroy it, as he 
will." 

Then said the governor: "We have served our 
king as you would have served yours. We have en- 
dured much, but we will endure as much more before 
we will consent that the smallest boy in this town 
shall fare worse than the best. I beg of you to go to 
the king and entreat his compassion upon us." 

Sir Walter reported the parley to Edward, but 
the king declared firmly that he would accept noth- 
ing but unconditional surrender. Then said Sir 
Walter: "But, my lord, the time may come when 
we shall be in the hands of the French, and if you 
put these people to death, the French will take their 
revenge on us. You could not under such circum- 
stances expect us to obey you cheerfully when you 
order us to go to any of your castles." 

Many of the other barons agreed with Sir Walter, 



84 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

and at last the king said: " I am not so obstinate as 
to insist upon my opinion against you all. Sir Walter, 
go you to the governor of Calais, and say to him 
that the only grace he will get from me is this: If 
six of the chief men of Calais will come to me, bare- 
headed and barefooted, with ropes around their 
necks and the keys of the town in their hands, then 
shall the rest of the people have pardon, but with 
these six, I will do as I please." 

When the governor heard these words, he went 
down from the battlements into the market-place 
and had the bell rung for the people to come to- 
gether. After they had heard the hard terms, there 
was great weeping and wailing, but soon Eustace de 
Saint-Pierre, the richest citizen of the town, rose to 
his feet, and said: "It would be a very great pity to 
suffer so many people to die through famine if any 
means could be found to prevent it. I have such 
faith and trust in finding grace before God if I die 
to save my townsmen that I name myself as first of 
the six." "I will be the second," said John Daire, 
another man of wealth, and four others quickly fol- 
lowed their example. 

Amid the tears and lamentations of the people, 
the governor led the six heroes to the city gate where 
Sir Walter de Manny stood waiting. "I swear to 
you," said the governor, "that these six citizens are 
the most wealthy and respected inhabitants of 
Calais. I beg of you, gentle sir, to beseech the king 
that they may not be put to death." 

"I cannot answer for what the king may do with 



THE SIX HEROES OF CALAIS 85 

them," replied Sir Walter sadly, "but you may 
be sure that I will do all in my power to save 
them." 

When the six heroes had come before King Ed- 
ward, they fell upon their knees before him and 
begged for mercy. All the barons and knights and 
squires wept at the sight, but the king, angry for 
what the people of Calais had made him endure, 
ordered them to be taken away and beheaded. Sir 
Walter and the others present pleaded for mercy, 
but the king would not yield. "Send for the execu- 
tioner," was his only reply. But Queen Philippa now 
knelt before him and pleaded for the men. "With 
great danger I crossed the sea to come to you," she 
said, "and I have never yet asked a favor of you. 
I ask you now, for the sake of the Son of the Blessed 
Mary and for your love to me, that you will be 
merciful to these six men." 

The king stood looking at her in silence. Then he 
said: "Ah, lady, I wish you had been anywhere else 
than here, but I cannot refuse you. Take them and 
do with them as you please." So the queen took the 
six men to her own apartments. She cast off the hal- 
ters from their necks, gave them new clothes, and 
served them with a generous dinner. Then they were 
escorted back to the city gates in safety, and for the 
sake of the six heroes the lives of the men of Calais 
were spared. 

This is the story of the heroes of Calais as it is 
told by Froissart, a French historian who spent 
much time talking with men who had fought in the 



86 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

wars and visiting the fields where great battles had 
taken place. Queen Philippa was especially kind to 
him, and he must have enjoyed writing this story 
of her goodness and mercy. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE STORY OF JEANNE DARC 

The warfare of Edward III in France was the be- 
ginning of the English struggle for the French crown 
which is known as the "Hundred Years' War." It 
lasted from 1337 to 1453, although it was broken by 
occasional times of peace. 

In 1422 the King of France died. His son could 
not be crowned, because French sovereigns were 
always crowned at Rheims, and Rheims, as well as 
the northern half of the whole country, was in the 
hands of the English; but he was proclaimed as 
Charles VII of France. The King of England was 
only a baby of ten months, but his guardians quite 
as promptly proclaimed him too as King of France. 

Charles was kind-hearted, handsome, fond of a 
good time, and decidedly lazy. He was willing that 
people should fight for him, but he had no desire to 
lead them. There was nothing about him to arouse 
enthusiasm, and many of the French would have 
cared little if he had lost his throne. It began to 
look as if this would come to pass, for the English 
were besieging Orleans, the last stronghold of south- 
ern France. The English, however, were in reality 
more discouraged than they would have been willing 
to admit, for their friends, the Burgundians, had 
deserted them. Moreover, there was an old prophecy 
that some day a maiden would save France, and a 



88 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

rumor was afloat that a young girl had been sent by 
Heaven to raise the siege of Orleans. 

This young girl was Jeanne Dare, daughter of a 
peasant of Domremy. She knew what war meant, 
for the Burgundians had sacked her little village 
and desecrated the church that she loved. She and 
her parents had had to flee for safety, and had re- 
turned to find their home in ruins. During the long 
hours when she was caring for her father's flocks, she 
grieved over these things. One sunny day, as she 
stood in the little garden, she heard voices and found 
herself in the center of a great brightness with angels 
around her. " I saw them as plainly as I see you," she 
said to her judge long afterwards. Over and over 
she had the same experience and heard voices bid- 
ding her raise the siege of Orleans and conduct 
Charles to be crowned at Rheims. 

When she spoke of the voices and their bidding, 
her father was angry, and the village priest thought 
her insane. How could she, a village maiden of sev- 
enteen, get an opportunity even to see the King of 
France? She begged her uncle to ask the French 
commander in the next town to lead her to the king. 
"Slap the silly girl and send her home," growled 
the rough soldier. Then Jeanne made her way to 
him. "I must go," she said, "I must raise the siege 
of Orleans; no one else can do it." She pleaded so 
earnestly that at last he agreed to send her to the 
king. 

The people of the town gave her a horse, a coat of 
mail, a lance, and a sword; and in the respectful care 



THE STORY OF JEANNE DARC 89 

of an archer and a king's messenger she journeyed to 
Chinon, where Charles was residing. After some de- 
lay she was brought into the great hall of the castle, 
where three hundred knights were assembled. The 
king was not nearly so richly dressed as they, and 
he kept himself a little out of sight to see whether 
she would recognize him. She looked about her a 
moment, then went straight to him and bowed be- 
fore him. He tried to make her think that he was 
not the king, but she said, " In God's name, it is you 
and none other!" 

People were impressed with her power, but 
whether it came from God or Satan, they were un- 
certain, and she was taken to Poitiers to be exam- 
ined by bishops and archbishop. They argued with 
her and questioned her for a fortnight. When after 
all this they demanded of her some sign of her truth, 
she at last lost patience. " In the name of God," she 
said, " I am not come to Poitiers to show signs; take 
me to Orleans and I will give you signs." 

After many weeks she was allowed to start for 
Orleans with armor, sword, white banner embla- 
zoned with lilies and a representation of God holding 
the world in his hand. Priests chanting, "Come, 
Holy Ghost, our souls inspire," followed her horse; 
and behind them marched ten or twelve thousand 
men. 

When they were not far from Orleans, Jeanne sent 
a letter to the English, commanding them to leave 
the town, and declaring that if they did not obey she 
would soon come and make them. The English were 



90 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

greatly weakened by the departure of the Burgun- 
dians; but beside this, many of them were badly 
frightened. If Jeanne's power came from God, they 
were afraid to resist her; and if it came from Satan, 
they were equally afraid. Between the two fears she 
was allowed to enter the city unmolested. 

The citizens were wild with joy, but naturally the 
officers were slow to follow the lead of the unknown 
country girl. The very night after her coming they 
made a sortie without telling her their plans. She 
awoke and galloped at full speed to the fighting 
ground. In every struggle she was in the thickest of 
the fight. She was severely wounded, but never did 
she show any sign of fear, and eight days after her 
coming to Orleans, the English marched away from 
the rescued city. It would have been good general- 
ship to pursue them, but Jeanne was no eager gen- 
eral. All that she wanted was to obey the commands 
of her "voices" ; she had nothing to do with pursuit. 
Her work was to conduct Charles to Rheims to be 
crowned, and then she would be free to return to her 
village home, to the simple life to which she had 
always been used. 

I But what was Charles about in those stirring days? 
He was in a castle on the banks of the Loire River, 
amusing himself. The very day after Orleans was 
free, the Maid of Orleans, as she was henceforth 
called, set out to find him. She rode toward him, 
bearing the victorious banner. Charles took off his 
cap and held out his hand to her. He was pleased 
with what she had done, but when she urged him to 




JEANNE DARC AT THE CORONATION OF C HARI.ES VII 



THE STORY OF JEANNE DARC 91 

start at once for Rheims, he hesitated. The council 
said it was a long journey, and he had not the money 
for it. Then, too, it would be dangerous, and there 
were no troops ready. 

After a month of delay, they set forth. When they 
came to the town of Troyes, which was held by the 
English, Charles and his council were ready to give 
up; but Jeanne made such energetic preparations 
for an assault that the citizens were alarmed and 
threw open their gates. The king was conducted to 
Rheims, and in the cathedral he was crowned by the 
archbishop, while Jeanne stood joyfully by, holding 
the royal standard. 

When Charles asked her to name her reward, she 
would have nothing for herself, but begged that 
Domremy might be free from taxation. Charles 
promised, and for more than three centuries France 
kept the promise sacred. Jeanne now wished to go 
home. "I have done what I was bidden," she said, 
"and now I would gladly go back to my father and 
mother and care for their sheep and cattle." But 
Charles insisted upon her remaining to help drive 
the English from the northern part of the country. 

Jeanne did her best, but her inspiration was gone. 
She had done what her "voices" commanded her to 
do, and they now warned her that she would be a 
prisoner before many months had passed. So it was. 
She fell into the hands of the Burgundians, who had 
again joined the English, and they sold her to Eng- 
land. The English believed that, even if she was kept 
in prison, her influence would prevent their success, 



92 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

and they tried her on the charge of witchcraft. She 
had given Charles a kingdom, and he did not raise 
his hand in her behalf. In the market-place of Rouen 
she was bound to a stake to die by fire. She asked for 
a cross, and an Englishman made a rude one of a 
broken stick. She kissed it and laid it on her breast. 
The cross from a neighboring church was now 
brought, and she begged of her confessor, "Hold the 
cross up before me, that I may never cease to look 
upon it." As the crowd turned away from the mar- 
ket-place, one of the English leaders said fearfully, 
"We are all lost; we have burned a saint." 

Jeanne's ashes were cast into the Seine; but her 
death aroused and united the French as even her 
life could not do. They fell upon the English with 
new energy, and before many years had passed, 
England lost every foot of French soil that she had 
once held, except Calais. 



CHAPTER XV 
PIERRE BAYARD, THE PERFECT KNIGHT 

Pierre Bayard was born in a castle perched on a 
rocky crag in the mountains of Dauphine, in France. 
It had dungeons and trap doors and gloomy pas- 
sages, quite according to the old storybooks; but it 
also had a great hall with a cheerful wood fire, with 
rushes on the floor, and skins of bears and wolves 
laid here and there. 

The four children, all boys, learned nothing of 
books, but they did learn to tell the truth, to say 
their prayers, and to fear nothing. They had a wild, 
happy, out-of-door life; but children grow up fast, 
and one day their father called them to him and 
asked what they would like to do when they were 
men. When it was Pierre's turn to choose, he said he 
wanted to be a knight, like his grandfather. "My 
boy," said his father, "you shall have your wish. 
Your grandfather was one of the best knights of his 
day, and I believe that you will not be unworthy of 
him." 

The first step toward knighthood was to become 
a member of some household whose master was of 
high rank, and very soon the boy of thirteen was on 
his horse, ready to gallop away to become a page at 
the castle of the Duke of Savoy. When he said good- 
bye to his mother, she said, "My boy, I bid you to 
serve God and pray to Him morning and night ; to 



94 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

be gentle and courteous to all ; and to be charitable 
to the poor." Pierre promised her, and this promise 
he kept to the last day of his life. 

In the castle of the Duke of Savoy Pierre learned 
to use arms, to run, leap, and swim, to play all sorts 
of athletic games, and never to fail in courtesy or in 
neatness of dress. He learned also to read and write, 
to play chess and backgammon and other indoor 
games. Before many months had passed, the duke 
decided to go to court and to take the young page 
with him. The king, Charles VIII, took a great 
fancy to Pierre and his wonderful riding, and in a 
fit of generosity the duke presented him with the 
boy. In the royal court he was taught still more of 
wrestling, fencing, of the use of the sword and the 
crossbow; and he learned so rapidly that when he 
was only seventeen he was made a squire. 

Every man of arms longed, of course, to get a 
taste of real warfare ; and Pierre was delighted when 
King Charles brought forward his claim to the 
throne of Naples and set out on an expedition to 
Italy. This did not accomplish much, but Charles's 
successor, Louis XII, was fully as eager as Charles to 
make conquests in Italy. The Pope, the Emperor of 
Germany, the King of Spain, and the King of Eng- 
land were all afraid of letting France become too 
powerful. They all fought against her, and it would 
seem as if even Bayard might have had enough of 
fighting; but he was never tired of it. Once when 
there was a truce of two months, he and a friend met 
a company of thirteen Spaniards and saluted them 



BAYARD, THE PERFECT KNIGHT 95 

courteously. After a little conversation, one of the 
Spaniards said: "We are utterly tired of this truce, 
and perhaps you feel the same. Here are thirteen of 
us; supposing you and eleven others come out 
against us and see which side will conquer." Bayard 
was ready, of course, and a week later the fight took 
place. 

This contest was somewhat like a tournament; 
that is, at a given signal the two parties put spurs to 
their horses, and with leveled lances galloped to- 
gether to try to unhorse their adversaries. Now the 
armor worn in those days was very heavy, some- 
times weighing as much as two hundred pounds, and 
the bravest knight in the field was helpless if once 
thrown from his horse. For this reason it was en- 
tirely against the laws of chivalry to aim at the 
horse of an adversary. The Spaniards, however, had 
a grudge against Bayard, and they paid no attention 
to this law, but aimed at the horses, and soon eleven 
of them lay dead. There was one result of the trick- 
ery, however, which they had not counted upon, for 
their own steeds refused to step over the bodies, and 
therefore the line of dead horses made so good a 
rampart that the two French knights, Bayard and 
his friend, rode away with the honors of the fight. 

The story of this engagement was told and retold 
with the greatest delight by the admirers of Bayard ; 
but perhaps they took even more pleasure in the tale 
of his holding the bridge quite in the fashion of 
Horatius of the early Roman days. When this took 
place, the French were encamped on one side of the 



96 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

river Garigliano in southern Italy, and the Spanish 
on the other side. The bridge was in the hands of the 
French, and Bayard, quite as a matter of course, had 
his quarters close to it ; that is, in the place of great- 
est danger. One day the French were amazed to see 
that Spanish troops had succeeded in crossing the 
river by a ford and were coming up the bank. The 
whole army were upon them, the French thought. 
Bayard was always clear-headed, and he saw that 
there were not more than two hundred Spaniards, 
and that they were aiming at the bridge. He sent a 
messenger off at full speed for troops, and he took 
his stand at the end of the bridge, striking out so 
vigorously that, as the old chronicler says, the 
Spaniards thought they were fighting a devil and 
not a man. Reinforcements came to the French, and 
Bayard chased the Spanish over the bridge and a 
mile or two farther on the other side. Then seven or 
eight hundred men were seen coming to help them, 
and he ordered a retreat. He was last in line, and, 
when thirty or forty Spaniards surrounded him, he 
was forced to surrender. His friends turned and 
dashed upon the enemy to rescue him ; but Bayard's 
captors had not realized what a prize they had 
taken, and they had not even disarmed him. His 
own horse was exhausted, so he sprang upon a fresh 
one belonging to the Spaniards and fought desper- 
ately. The end of it was that the Spaniards gal- 
loped away at full speed, while the French sat at 
ease on their horses, laughing to see them go. 

The war continued, and now Venice joined the 



BAYARD, THE PERFECT KNIGHT 97 

Italian forces. The French king's nephew, Gaston 
de Foix, Duke of Nemours, was in command of the 
French. He was determined to capture the town of 
Brescia, strongly fortified as it was. All the knights 
agreed to his plan of attack except Bayard alone. 
' ' Our foot soldiers who are to lead the advance will 
have to meet picked men of the enemy," he said, 
"and I advise that they have one hundred and fifty 
horsemen to support them." "What you say is 
true," replied the duke, "but the first aim of the 
enemy would be to shoot every horseman. Who 
would put himself and his men at the mercy of the 
Italian arquebuses?" "I will," said Bayard quietly, 
"and I will answer for it that my company will do 
good service to our king." This was all the more 
noble in Bayard because he had such detestation of 
fighting with arquebuses or any other machines for 
throwing balls. To be slain in a contest of swords or 
lances or battle-axes he looked upon as fair and just, 
but, as he said, "It is a shame that a man of spirit 
should be exposed to be killed by a miserable stone 
or iron ball against which he cannot defend himself." 
The attack upon the town began with such a noise 
of clarions and trumpets and drums that it was 
"enough to make the hair of the boldest stand on 
end," said one who was present. The troops in the 
town responded with volleys of cannon shot. These 
cannon cannot have been very dangerous, for it was 
said that one shot straight into the midst of the 
duke's company, but not a man was killed or 
wounded ! Before long came the dash upon the walls. 



98 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

Bayard was the first to cross the rampart, but he 
paid dearly for the honor, for he was wounded so 
severely that he had to be carried from the field. The 
French swore vengeance for the injury to their be- 
loved knight and attacked the town more furiously 
than ever. Their valor was needed, for they had to 
meet not only the fire of the troops within the walls, 
but also the stones and bricks and boiling water and 
pieces of furniture which the women were throwing 
over the walls and down upon the besiegers. Never- 
theless, Brescia fell. 

On one occasion Bayard and his men were en- 
tirely surrounded in battle, and he was forced to 
advise them to yield. He caught sight of a Burgun- 
dian soldier too exhausted to think of taking pris- 
oners. He had removed his helmet and sat on the 
bank of a stream. "Yield, or you are a dead man," 
cried Bayard, with his sword at the man's throat. 
" I yield," said the man, for he could do nothing else, 
"but who are you?" "I am the Captain Bayard," 
replied the knight; "take my sword, for now I yield 
myself to you." After a few days in camp, Bayard 
remarked that he wished to go home. "But we have 
said nothing about your ransom," exclaimed the 
Burgundian. "My ransom!" cried the knight. "But 
what about yours ? I might have slain you if I had 
chosen. We'll fight it out between us." But the Bur- 
gundian had no wish to fight the great Bayard, and 
they agreed to leave the question to the command- 
ers. So it was brought before the Emperor of Ger- 
many and the King of England, Henry VIII. The 



BAYARD, THE PERFECT KNIGHT 99 

emperor looked at the king, and the king looked at 
the emperor. Finally they agreed — and Bayard and 
the Burgundian agreed with them — that the two 
prisoners might well consider themselves quits. 
Henry VIII afterwards offered Bayard great riches 
and honors to enter his service, but Bayard refused. 
"I have only one master in heaven, who is God," 
he said, "and one on earth, who is the King of 
France, and I shall never serve any other." 

Bayard's death came about by the obstinacy of 
one Admiral Bonivet. In spite of Bayard's explana- 
tions that the place could not be held, the admiral 
insisted upon his occupying a little village with 
neither walls nor ditches nor barricades, and close to 
the camp of the enemy. Bayard did everything that 
a brave knight could do, but he was struck by a 
stone from an arquebus. "O God, I am slain!" he 
cried, and raising the cross-hilt of his sword to his 
lips, he kissed it as if it were a crucifix. His friends 
were about to carry him away, but he said: "I have 
never turned my back to a foe, and I will not do it 
now. Put me at the foot of a tree with my face to the 
enemy, and then charge upon them." After he had 
been laid tenderly down, he bade farewell and sent 
messages to his king and his friends. 

When it was known that the great Bayard was 
dying, warfare was forgotten, and both friends and 
enemies gathered around him. Among them was the 
Constable of Bourbon, who had deserted the French 
king and entered the service of Spain. "How much 
I pity you," he said to the suffering knight; but 



ioo HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

Bayard replied: "I thank you, but pity is not for 
me, who die a true man, serving my king. Pity is for 
you, who bear arms against your prince, your coun- 
try, and your oath." The Italian Marquis of Pes- 
cara had his own tent brought for Bayard, and his 
own bed, and he himself helped to lay the wounded 
man upon it. In the midst of an earnest and trustful 
prayer to God to receive his spirit, the good knight 
passed away. He had been faithful to the three 
French kings under whom he had lived. He had 
fought with Italians, Spaniards, and Englishmen, 
and had won the respect of every adversary. He 
was the model of all chivalric virtues, a knight 
without fear and without reproach. 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE FIELD OF THE CLOTH OF GOLD 

The third of the three French kings who were served 
by Bayard was Francis I, who was somewhat of a 
spoiled child, but lovable and brave. One of his first 
exploits with the sword took place in a room of his 
own palace. He had just captured a wild boar in the 
forest, and for some whim let it loose in the court- 
yard. A little later, one of the doors was burst open, 
and in rushed the angry beast. The courtiers ran for 
their lives, but the prince drew his sword, and soon 
the dead body of the boar was tumbling down the 
stairs and back into the courtyard. 

When Francis came to the throne, he was only 
twenty years old, and was longing for adventure and 
glory. The two preceding kings had gained nothing 
permanent in Italy, and Francis determined to do 
better. He crossed the Alps, building bridges and 
blowing up rocks to make a way for his army, and 
met the Italians, together with the Swiss, whom they 
had hired to help them, on the field of Marignano, 
and was victorious. "I have been in seventeen bat- 
tles," said one of the French marshals, "and they 
have been only child's play compared with this." 

Francis was not only brave himself, but he ap- 
preciated bravery in others, and before he left the 
battle-field he went straight to Bayard and said, 
"Bayard, I pray you to bestow upon me the honor 



102 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

of knighthood." "But, sire," replied Bayard, "the 
king of so noble a realm, he who has been crowned 
and consecrated with oil sent down from heaven, is 
knight over all other knights." "Bayard, my 
friend," returned the king, "make haste. Do not 
quote laws or canons here, but do my bidding." 
"Assuredly, sire," said Bayard, "I will do it, since 
it is your pleasure." 

So it was that Francis was made a knight, and 
there on the field he knighted those of his followers 
who had done most valiant service. He gained no 
new dominions by his Italian wars, but he did gain 
new ideas of art and architecture, and when he re- 
turned to France, he carried with him paintings and 
statuary made by the greatest artists of Italy. 

Francis delighted in magnificence and display, 
and only four or five years after the battle of Marig- 
nano, he had an opportunity to be just as gorgeous 
as he chose. A certain young Austrian prince by the 
name of Charles had by the death of one of his 
grandfathers become King of Spain, and also of 
Naples, Sicily, Sardinia, and the Netherlands. Then, 
too, this was in 15 19, when Cortez was conquering 
Mexico, and great stores of gold and silver were 
coming into the coffers of Spain from the New World 
across the Atlantic. Charles was already a very pow- 
erful and wealthy monarch ; and now, by the death 
of his other grandfather, Austria fell into his hands. 
Even worse than that, in the eyes of Francis I of 
France and Henry VIII of England, was the fact 
that he was soon chosen Emperor of Germany. 



THE FIELD OF THE CLOTH OF GOLD 103 

This put into his control all western Europe except 
France and the British Isles. 

Francis and Henry had each hoped to be chosen 
emperor, and they were now two badly disappointed 
young monarchs. What could they do about it? 
Francis decided to make war against Charles, and 
Henry was apparently quite willing to unite with 
him. They agreed to meet and talk over their plans. 

The place of meeting was to be near Calais, where 
English and French territory met, so that each king 
could be on his own soil. Splendid preparations were 
made by both sovereigns. Henry had sent eleven 
hundred skilled workmen from Holland and Flan- 
ders to build him a summer palace. Its windows were 
glazed with finer and more transparent glass than 
had ever been seen before. Posts and mullions were 
overlaid with gold. Statues of men in glittering ar- 
mor were everywhere. Close to the entrance was a 
fountain flowing, not with water, but with wine, and 
over it in letters of gold was the inscription, "Make 
good cheer who will." Within the palace all things 
were rich and elegant. The ceilings of the corridors 
were covered with fluted white silk, and those of the 
chambers with roses on a golden groundwork. The 
hangings were of silk, of different colors and beauti- 
fully embroidered. Tapestry of silk and gold, Turk- 
ish cushions, cloths and draperies of golden tissue 
and rich embroidery adorned the state apartments. 

Francis had put up a tent, but such a tent as never 
was seen before, for it was dome-shaped and covered 
with cloth of gold. It was lined with blue velvet stud- 



104 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

ded with golden stars. Adjoining the tent were other 
tents, smaller, but just as richly decorated. 5j 

There were hundreds of tents for the members of 
the two courts, and banners of all colors floated 
above them. Coats of arms were emblazoned upon 
them, and at the door of each stood a sentinel with 
glittering bill and lance. Knights were all about in 
their dazzling armor. It is no wonder that from that 
day to this the plain has been known as the "Field of 
the Cloth of Gold." 

But in the midst of all this splendor there was im- 
portant business to attend to, and before long the 
two kings, most richly dressed, met and made a 
treaty which, among other provisions, bound the 
French king to marry the four-year-old daughter of 
the English king. The sovereigns made speeches of 
friendship, took wine together, and after the presen- 
tation of their respective courts, the meeting came 
to an end. 

For more than two weeks there were feasts and 
tournaments and all kinds of entertainments. But 
through it all the officials of the two kingdoms 
feared treachery, and the two kings were obliged to 
meet with much formality. This was especially an- 
noying to Francis, and one morning he slipped out 
of his bedroom and with only two gentlemen and a 
little page to attend him went to call on Henry. 
"Surrender, I have come to take the castle," he 
cried merrily to the astounded English guards. 
"Where is the chamber of the king, my brother?" 
he demanded. The governor of the palace did not 



THE FIELD OF THE CLOTH OF GOLD 105 

dare refuse to answer, but pleaded, "Sire, the king 
is not yet awake." Francis went on, knocked at 
Henry's door and walked into the room. Naturally 
the English king was amazed, but also much grati- 
fied at the trust which the French king had shown 
in him. Henry gave his guest a jeweled necklace, and 
Francis presented to him in return a valuable brace- 
let which he had brought with him. "I will wait upon 
you," Francis declared, and, quite in the fashion of 
a valet, he handed King Henry his shirt and other 
clothes. 

After this, everything was delightfully friendly 
between the kings and between their peoples; and 
yet, not long before Henry had crossed the English 
Channel, Charles of Spain had visited England, and 
Henry on his way home visited Charles in Flanders 
and spent three days with him in Calais, and when 
war broke out two years later he became the ally of 
the Spanish king! 

Francis won no more such victories as that of 
Marignano, and at length, at the battle of Pavia, he 
was captured, and shut up in a gloomy Spanish 
prison. To win his freedom, he signed a treaty with 
Spain and delivered his two little sons to Charles as 
hostages. Before long he declared that since he had 
been forced to sign this treaty, it was not binding 
upon him, and war followed. He was ready to pay 
any price for the help of England, and Henry now 
joined the French side. This helped Francis very 
little, but in the peace that followed, the two boys 
were given back to their father. This time it was 



106 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

Charles who broke the treaty, and war began again. 
So it went on till a short time before the death of the 
French king. 

These wars, which lasted most of the time during 
a quarter of a century, aimed at preserving what is 
called the balance of power in Europe ; that is, pre- 
venting any one country from becoming strong 
enough to control other countries. This struggle 
began in the reign of Francis, and has lasted for four 
hundred years, each nation living in fear lest some 
neighboring nation should become too powerful. It 
is this which has made it necessary to keep standing 
armies of troops always ready for warfare ; and it is 
this which has increased so heavily the weight of 
taxation upon the people of European lands. 

Francis was interested in the New World, and he 
sent out explorers in spite of the wrath and indigna- 
tion of Spain and Portugal. These countries, because 
of their early voyages to America, claimed the whole 
continent; but Francis only laughed at their com- 
plaints, and returned the rather exasperating reply, 
"Show me the clause in the will of Father Adam 
which divides America between Spain and Portugal, 
and excludes France." 

Francis appreciated art and architecture and 
music and literature. He built handsome palaces. 
He invited poets and artists and musicians to his 
court, and some of them made it their home. In such 
ways as these he did a great deal for his country, and 
if his life could only have been free from war, he 
would have been able to do much more. 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE STORY OF COLIGNY 

In 1522 the Marshal de Chatillon died, and his four 
little boys were left for their mother to bring up in 
the fashion thought proper for the children of a 
French nobleman. 

Not so very many years earlier, boys in their posi- 
tion in life would have been taught to use arms, to 
be brave and fearless and courteous, and not so very 
much besides. If a letter was to be written, a clerk 
would write it. If a document was to be signed, a 
knight would make his mark and not feel in the least 
ashamed of being unable to write his name. But now 
times had changed, and it was looked upon as a dis- 
grace for a young man of good family to know 
nothing of books. Of course, then, these boys had a 
tutor as well as an instructor in arms ; and when they 
were brought to court, they were well fitted to take 
their place among the best-trained of the young 
nobles. 

The dauphin, who afterwards became Henry II, 
was of about their age. He and Gaspard Coligny de 
Chatillon and the young men who gathered around 
the court, had the merriest time possible with tour- 
naments, dances, tennis, hunting, and all the light- 
hearted pranks that a group of happy young men 
could think of. Often people like those best who are 
least like themselves, and the Duke of Guise, a 



io8 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

young noble whom Coligny especially admired, was 
quite his opposite. Coligny was rather inclined to be 
grave and thoughtful. People had to know him well 
before they really appreciated him. The Duke of 
Guise was open-hearted in manner, merry, generous, 
and winning ; and everybody, from King Francis to 
the boys in the streets, was devoted to him. King 
Francis, however, although he admired him, did 
not really trust him, and when about to die, he 
warned his son Henry not to allow the Guise family 
to become too powerful. 

It was almost a matter of course that young men 
of good family should become soldiers. Coligny and 
Guise fought side by side in many a battle, and both 
soon won high promotion. Coligny was made cap- 
tain-general of the French infantry, composed 
chiefly of Swiss, who could always be hired to fight 
for any one, anywhere. They were wild and lawless. 
They murdered and pillaged wherever they went. 
No one had ever tried to make them show any de- 
cency or honor. Imagine their wrathful surprise 
when Coligny ordered them to stop quarreling and 
swearing and pillaging and behave like respectable 
men. His penalties were not agreeable. If a man in- 
sulted a woman, he was to be hanged. If he made no 
effort to give up swearing, he was invited to spend 
eight days in prison on bread and water for his first 
offense. For his third offense, he lost one hand. Of 
course Coligny was called severe, but by the punish- 
ment of a few he saved thousands of lives and trans- 
formed a mob of robbers and murderers into well- 



THE STORY OF COLIGNY 109 

behaved troops. Another reform of his, which prob- 
ably the soldiers appreciated quite as much as being 
made to behave themselves, was the formation of 
an ambulance corps to carry the wounded to a mili- 
tary hospital, the first time that such a thing had 
ever been done. 

Both Guise and Coligny were ambitious, of course, 
like any other young men of spirit, and both attained 
to high positions, for Guise became lieutenant gen- 
eral, and Coligny admiral. 

In 1552, the king made war upon Charles V of 
Spain. Early in this war, Guise held Metz against all 
the attacks of the Spanish. He also took Calais, 
which had been in the hands of the English for more 
than two hundred years. Moreover, to add to all 
this glory, his niece married Francis, eldest son of 
King Henry. Coligny had been equally brave and 
skillful in the war, but less fortunate. He had held 
Saint-Quentin till its walls fell, and by this had 
saved Paris; but he had been obliged to surrender 
at last and had been taken prisoner. 

While in prison, Coligny had time to think of reli- 
gious subjects, as thousands of other people were 
doing. The Bible had been translated. People were 
reading it and were talking of matters of religion, 
and instead of accepting whatever the Church 
taught, they were discussing and questioning and 
making up their minds for themselves, and many 
were becoming Protestants, or Huguenots, as they 
were called in France. To leave the Roman Catholic 
Church and become a Huguenot was looked upon 



no HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

by all Catholics not only as accepting a wrong and 
dangerous belief, but also as taking a long step to- 
ward disloyalty to the king, which deserved heavy 
penalties. On the other hand, there were disagree- 
ments even among the Protestants, and they some- 
times persecuted one another. Then, too, political 
interests entered into the matter. King Francis be- 
lieved that to permit his subjects to become Prot- 
estants would weaken his authority; therefore he 
persecuted the French Huguenots. But to weaken 
the authority of Charles V in Germany was just 
what he wanted; therefore he aided the German 
Protestants. Coligny had long been inclined to favor 
the Huguenots, and when he was released from 
prison, he came out openly as one of them and soon 
became their principal leader. 

King Henry's death left the crown to his sickly 
young son, Francis II, who had married Mary, 
Queen of Scots, niece of Guise. The Duke of Guise 
was then a successful general, uncle of the queen, a 
man of great ability and winning manners. Few boys 
of sixteen would have stood out against his advice, 
and King Francis was not one of those few. The 
Duke of Guise and his family were practically the 
rulers of the country. 

But in less than two years Francis died, and Mary, 
Queen of Scots, was obliged to leave her beloved 
France and return to Scotland. Charles, the ten- 
year-old brother of Francis, now became sovereign. 
The land was in such disorder that civil war was 
probable. In the midst of the confusion, Coligny 



THE STORY OF COLIGNY in 

planned a settlement in America where the Hugue- 
nots might be free to think and to worship as they 
believed right. One attempt was made at the en- 
trance of Port Royal, South Carolina, another on the 
Saint John's River in Florida. The first failed for 
lack of food ; the second was destroyed by the Span- 
iards and most of the colonists slain — "Not as 
French, but as heretics," the Spaniards declared. 

Catherine de' Medici, mother of the boy king, was 
regent. She was a woman quite without principles of 
honor and uprightness, and with a single aim, 
namely, to increase her own power. To weaken the 
power of Guise she allowed many privileges to the 
Huguenots. Then, when the Huguenots showed 
signs of becoming too strong to suit her wishes, she 
made a secret treaty with Charles V to destroy them 
and plotted with the Guise party to murder the 
Huguenot leaders. An attempt was made to kill 
Coligny ; but King Charles was fond of Coligny and 
went at once to tell him how sorry he was. This 
alarmed Catherine. Evidently, if she was to retain 
her power, she must get rid of the Huguenots ; so she 
and her followers planned a general massacre of 
them. She wrote a decree authorizing such a mas- 
sacre and carried it to Charles to sign. He was now 
twenty-two years old, but he was almost as much 
under his mother's influence as when he was a boy. 
At first he refused. "But do you not realize," de- 
manded Catherine, "that the Huguenots will all 
accuse you of encouraging the attack upon Coligny? 
They will rise up against you. Better to get rid of 



112 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

them now than to risk a battle later." Over and over 
Charles refused to sign the decree. Even after his 
mother succeeded in making him believe that the 
Huguenots were plotting against his life, he refused. 
Day after day she kept up her arguing and pleading. 
Then she began to weep and declared that she should 
leave the court. Charles had held out remarkably 
well for so weak a nature, but now he suddenly 
yielded. "Kill them all, then!" he cried. "Kill every 
Huguenot in France, so that none may be left to 
reproach me." 

At two o'clock on the morning of Saint Bartholo- 
mew's Day, the ringing of a church bell was heard 
in Paris. Others followed, until there was a wild 
jangling from every belfry. This was the signal, and 
in a moment the streets were filled with armed men 
bearing on hat or sleeve a white cross, the badge of 
the Guise family. Every Huguenot, man, woman, or 
little child, that could be found was murdered. 

Coligny was one of the first to die, for his old boy- 
hood friend, the Duke of Guise, went at once to the 
house of his rival and sent assassins up the stairs to 
his bedroom. "Are you Coligny?" they questioned. 
"Yes, I am," Coligny replied calmly. "I am a 
wounded and aged man, and you ought to respect 
my gray hairs. But you will not shorten my life 
much," he added. 

Catherine had also sent to the various provinces 
commands in the king's name to carry on similar 
massacres. Some of the governors obeyed; others re- 
fused. One wrote: "I respect Your Majesty too 



THE STORY OF COLIGNY 113 

much not to believe that this letter is a forgery; and 
if, which God forbid, the order be genuine, I respect 
Your Majesty too much to obey you." Nevertheless, 
so many obeyed that it is believed twenty thousand 
Huguenots perished in France. 

All Europe was horrified, all save Philip II of 
Spain, successor of Charles V. He sent a message to 
Charles that if soldiers were needed to complete the 
overthrow of the Huguenots, he should be glad to 
supply them. Catherine never expressed the least 
regret for the horrors of Saint Bartholomew's Day. 
Charles died after two years of keen remorse and 
physical suffering. And yet he had so little stability 
of mind that he appointed Catherine regent until 
his younger brother should be able to reign. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

KING HENRY OF NAVARRE 

At the death of Charles IX, there were three 
Henrys who were prominent in France. The first 
was Charles's younger brother, who now became 
Henry III. 

Henry was already King of Poland, but he did 
not like Poland, and was so delighted to be able to 
return to France that he actually ran away from 
his kingdom. A crowd of his subjects ran after him, 
but they could not catch their fugitive sovereign. 
Henry amused himself in Italy for a while, and then 
went to France. The French people were ready to 
welcome their new king, but they soon found that 
there was nothing kingly about him except his title. 
He paid no attention to his royal duties, but idled 
his days away. Worse than this, he became the 
leader of a band of vicious, dissolute young men who 
filled their time with shameless acts. 

It is small wonder that the French, both Catho- 
lics and Protestants, were indignant and disgusted. 
The Huguenots were becoming stronger, and the 
Catholics formed a League to uphold and protect 
their faith. Their leader was Henry, Duke of Guise, 
the second of the three Henrys. 

The third Henry was Henry, King of Navarre, the 
leader of the Protestants. King Henry III of France 
had no children, and this Henry of Navarre, though 



KING HENRY OF NAVARRE 115 

only a tenth or eleventh cousin, was heir to the 
French throne. 

King Henry III was about as foolish as a king 
could be. First, he gave privileges of worship to the 
Protestants, or Huguenots; which angered the 
Catholics. Then he took away these privileges; 
which angered the Protestants. The result was 
the "War of the Three Henrys," and before long 
there came a day' which is known as the "Day 
of the Barricades," because the citizens of Paris 
made barricades of carts, barrels, and paving-stones, 
and stretched chains across the streets, in order 
to resist the king's troops. These troops had to 
yield, and King Henry, in his own capital, was 
forced to beg the Duke of Guise — whom he had 
forbidden to enter Paris — to try to stop the slaugh- 
ter in the streets. The duke did this without the 
slightest trouble, for the Parisians were ready to 
obey his slightest wish. The king was forced to 
make the duke lieutenant-general of France and 
to agree to take up arms against the Huguenots. 

Not many months later, the duke was called to 
the king's room. As he drew aside the portiere, a 
group of assassins attacked him, and he fell dead 
at their feet. Henry kicked the body aside. "I am 
King of France now," he declared in delight; "the 
King of Paris is dead." Both Protestants and Cath- 
olics were horrified at the crime, and the Pope 
excommunicated King Henry. One day a young 
monk begged leave to present a letter to the king; 
and as Henry was reading it, the monk stabbed 



1x6 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

him to the heart. Thus ended the life of Henry III, 
the last of the House of Valois. 

King Henry of Navarre was now King Henry IV 
of France. He was born in a castle in the Pyrenees, 
and was brought up by a wise mother and an equally 
wise grandfather. Nobody dreamed that he would 
ever become King of France, for nine princes stood 
before him in the succession to the throne. He was 
dressed like the other boys of the district, and 
scrambled up the mountains with them, barefooted 
and bareheaded. His food was the same as theirs — 
coarse bread, beef, cheese, and garlic; and they 
were not allowed to show him any deference be- 
cause he was a prince. When he went to visit the 
French court, the court historian said of him that 
he was "the j oiliest and best-composed lad in the 
world." His tutor was as sensible as his grandfather, 
and the boy was taught such rhymes as: 

"Kings rule their subjects with a mighty hand; 
But God with greater power doth kings command," 



and 



"Either justly gain the victory, 
Or learn with glory how to die." 



When this "jolliest lad in the world" was fifteen, 
he was taken to the camp of the Huguenots and 
greeted as their leader. Before long he showed so 
much ability that he became their leader in reality 
as well as in name. It was fortunate that he had 
military talent, for after he became king, he had 
to spend five years fighting his way to Paris, the 



KING HENRY OF NAVARRE 117 

capital of his own kingdom. He won an important 
battle at Arques, and then came the battle of Ivry. 
It is of this that Macaulay wrote his poem, beginning, 

"Now glory to the Lord of Hosts, from whom all glories are! 
And glory to our sovereign liege, King Henry of Navarre!" 

Just before the battle, King Henry rode along 
the lines with a snow-white plume in his helmet. 
"If my standard-bearers fall," he said, "press 
where you see my white plume shine, for there will 
be the thickest of the fight." The battle began and, 
as Macaulay tells the tale, 

"A thousand spurs are striking deep, a thousand spears in rest, 
A thousand knights are pressing close behind the snow-white 

crest ; 
And in they burst, and on they rushed, while, like a guiding star, 
Amidst the thickest carnage blazed the helmet of Navarre." 

Henry and his brave followers won the victory, 
and by and by he drew near to Paris. He besieged 
the city, but he never forgot that his opponents 
were also his subjects. More than once he permitted 
food to be carried within its walls, and he allowed 
thousands of non-combatants to withdraw. "I am 
their father and their king," he said. "They are 
innocent; it is the Leaguers that are resisting me." 
It is no wonder that the four thousand who were 
allowed to leave at one time marched out crying 
"Long live the king! " 

Philip II of Spain sent troops to raise the siege; 
and before long Henry IV of France found himself 
in a difficult position. Any favor that he showed 
to either party aroused the other party against 



n8 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

him. Even those to whom he had shown the favor 
felt no gratitude, for they always thought that he 
might have done more for them. The result was that 
hardly one sixth of the French were his friends. 
The League was against him. The Pope was against 
him. Queen Elizabeth of England was giving him 
some help, but not nearly enough. The French were 
planning to make the daughter of the powerful 
Philip II of Spain their queen. Just at this time 
Henry made up his mind to become a Roman Cath- 
olic. He went in state to the Abbey of Saint Denis, 
where he was met by the archbishop and many 
others of the clergy. 

"Who are you?" demanded the archbishop. 

"I am the King of France," Henry replied. 

"What do you wish?" 

"To be received into the bosom of the Catholic, 
Apostolic, and Roman Church," said Henry. 

So it was that Henry IV became a Catholic. 
Whether he was convinced or not that his Protes- 
tant friends were "heretics," he had at any rate 
chosen the only way to keep the kingdom united 
and to save it from Spain, for within a few months 
he was accepted as king by nearly all France. He 
took no vengeance upon his enemies. When the 
Spanish troops left Paris, he saluted them and cried 
merrily, "Commend me to your master, gentlemen, 
but do not come here again." 

Philip, however, did not give up the hope of 
setting the French crown upon his daughter's head, 
and for three years longer the war with Spain con- 




HENRY IV AND MARIE DE MEDICI 



KING HENRY OF NAVARRE 119 

tinued. The royal treasury of France was emptied 
to pay the soldiers, and the king was poorer than 
his subjects. "My shirts are all torn," he wrote to a 
friend. "My doublets are out at elbows, my cup- 
board is often bare, and for the last two days I have 
been dining and supping with one and another." 
At length, however, Henry's enemies were over- 
come, and Philip II met his death. 

Henry had become a Catholic, but he did not 
forget that many of his subjects were Protestants. 
In 1598 he issued a famous paper in their behalf, 
called the Edict of Nantes. This gave to both 
Catholics and Protestants equal rights in the prac- 
tice of their religion and in holding office. It even 
established a special court to look out for their inter- 
ests. To-day this would be regarded as no more than 
fair; but in those times it was looked upon as a won- 
derfully liberal proceeding. 

Henry astonished the rulers of the other European 
countries in another way. It was generally accepted 
that a king had a perfect right to deceive others if 
he chose; but King Henry was so honest and sin- 
cere that they did not know what to make of him. 
It was a long time before they could believe that he 
really meant what he said. 

King Henry had faults as well as people who are 
not kings; but he was one of the most unselfish of 
rulers. His first thought was always, "How can I 
help my people?" It is no wonder that his subjects 
loved him. " I want every peasant to have a fowl in 
his pot on Sundays," he said; and in those days, 



120 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

when peasants rarely tasted meat, this was a great 
wish. "Their father has come home," he said; and 
he set to work to study the wages and expenses of 
the working-people and to learn how much these 
wages would purchase for them. He lessened their 
taxes; he built roads and bridges; he drained 
marshes; he encouraged silk-making by planting 
mulberry trees to provide food for the silkworms ; he 
built factories for weaving silk, velvet, lace, and 
linen, and for making glass. The country became 
happy and prosperous. Henry even sent out colo- 
nists to America, who founded Quebec. He planned 
a union of all the Christian nations of Europe 
against the Turks. But all this was suddenly brought 
to an end by the dagger of a half-crazed assassin. 
Paris was wild with grief. People ran about the 
streets groaning and weeping; and parents em- 
braced their children, crying, "What will become 
of you? You have lost your father." 

The French people have had rulers who were 
great, but no other sovereign has ever held such 
a place in their hearts as their beloved Henry IV. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE RISE OF RICHELIEU 

A few years before the death of Henry IV, a young 
man of a family called Richelieu was at a military 
school in training for the army. Suddenly he was 
called home by his mother and asked if he was will- 
ing to become a priest. In both army and Church 
there were opportunities to rise in the world; but 
in the Church there was a specially good opportunity 
for a son of the Richelieus. The family had been 
presented by King Henry III with the privilege of 
naming a bishop for the diocese of Lucon, and they 
wished to name this young Armand de Richelieu. 
The income of Lucon was not very large, but a 
bishop of even so small a diocese would always re- 
ceive honor and be treated as a man of rank. To 
what position he might rise would depend in great 
degree upon himself. 

Armand accepted the invitation. He promptly 
dropped his military pursuits and devoted himself 
to the study of theology and philosophy ; and before 
he was twenty-three years of age, he had become 
Bishop of Lucon. According to the custom of the 
times, no one would have found any fault with 
him if he had made his home in Paris, where he 
could be at court and on the lookout for chances 
of promotion; but he went to the dirty little town 
of Lucon, to what he called the "most disagree- 



122 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

able bishopric in France," and did his best for his 
people. 

The bishop was a poor man, but he was also a 
very ambitious man ; and he never failed to have his 
eyes open to any opportunity to rise in the world. 
An opportunity soon appeared. When he had been 
at Lucon only three years, the murder of Henry IV 
took place, and a nine-year-old prince became 
Louis XIII and the ruler of France. His mother, 
Marie de' Medici, was made regent. "Woe to thee, 
O land, when thy king is a child," said a writer of 
the olden time; and the truth of this was soon evi- 
dent in France. Confusion and discontent prevailed. 
The boy king was eager to rule, but he was allowed 
to have no power whatever. The queen was a weak, 
vain woman, who was controlled by an Italian and 
his wife. The nobles gathered around her. They 
cajoled and flattered her and begged for money and 
positions — which she gave to them for the sake of 
peace. Whether they were fitted for the positions 
into which she placed them was of no consequence 
to her or to them. She actually gave command of 
the whole French army to her pet Italian, although 
he had never been even a private soldier. 

Such a condition of things could not last forever. 
Before long the money which Henry IV had left in 
the royal treasury had been handed out to the greedy 
nobles. They wanted more, and they felt sure that 
if they made life sufficiently unpleasant for the 
queen, she would manage in some way to get it for 
them. When she did not, they took up arms against 



THE RISE OF RICHELIEU s 123 

her. Now was the time for the country bishop. He 
had made it plain that he was on the queen's side, 
and when she called a meeting of the States-General, 
he succeeded in being elected as a delegate of the 
clergy, and he made a speech or two that attracted 
attention. The wheels were beginning to turn. 

All this time the boy Louis was becoming more 
and more indignant at being deprived of his birth- 
right. When he was thirteen, he was declared of age ; 
but the queen and her favorites showed no intention 
of allowing the rightful sovereign of France to share 
their power. Louis grumbled angrily, but he had not 
spirit enough to seize his proper position. Three 
years more passed, and then De Luynes, a man who 
took care of his hawks and who was a favorite of the 
king, persuaded him that the Italian was plotting 
to kill him. Louis was aroused. "You have my 
permission to arrest the man," he said, "and if he 
resists, to shoot him." Of course he resisted. Louis 
was watching, and when he heard the shot, he called 
out of the window to the murderers, "Thank you, 
thank you, I am king now." He really thought that 
if he was freed from the sway of his mother and her 
favorites, he would be able to rule; but De Luynes 
and the nobles were still much stronger than he. 
They now banished the queen; but the boy of six- 
teen soon found that he had no more power than 
before. 

But what of the Bishop of Lucon in these years of 
confusion and snatching at money and offices? 
When the queen was sent away from court, he left 



124 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

court also, and followed her to her new abode, where 
she set up a court of her own. The bishop was now 
skillful enough to win the favor of both queen and 
king. He became chief of the queen's council — ■ bul 
refused to accept the office without the king's con- 
sent. He sent to De Luynes careful reports of what- 
ever the queen might do — "to show that there is 
no reason for suspecting her," he assured one party; 
"to guard the king from any possible plots against 
him," he assured the other. He tried to make his 
faithfulness to the king very clear; but somehow 
neither Louis nor De Luynes was quite sure of it; 
and it may be that a hint from the king was what 
induced him to return to his diocese. After a while 
the queen became so troublesome that to prevent 
further difficulty the king was glad to have Riche- 
lieu return and act as her adviser. 

Meanwhile, the Huguenots had risen against the 
royal forces. They planned to form a Protestant 
republic in the west of France with La Rochelle as 
its capital; and of course war resulted between the 
king and his Huguenot subjects. De Luynes, as the 
head of the army, was in command; and a strange 
commander he made, for he knew as little as a man 
could know about military matters, and even the 
private soldiers laughed at him. If he had been a 
very brave man, they would have respected him in 
spite of his ignorance; but they suspected that he 
was rather inclined to keep out of the way of danger. 

De Luynes died of fever while the campaign was 
going on. What he would have done if he had lived 



THE RISE OF RICHELIEU 125 

is a question, for the Huguenots were in arms, the 
nobles were turbulent and rebellious, and Austria 
was becoming much stronger than was for the advan- 
tage of France. Now was the time for Richelieu. 
He had brought about peace between the king and 
his mother and, chiefly through the influence of 
Marie de' Medici, he was made a cardinal by the 
Pope. He soon became minister of state, and the 
most powerful man in France. 

There was need of such a man. The king was keen 
enough to see it, and although he never really liked 
Richelieu, he kept him in office because this was for 
the interest of the country; and he followed the 
advice of his prime minister because it was the only 
thing to do. Cardinal Richelieu was the keenest 
politician France has ever known, and for a score of 
years he ruled king, council, and country. He was 
honestly devoted to France. He aimed at making 
her stronger than other European lands, especially 
Austria and Spain. One step toward this was to 
make an alliance with England. In France there 
was a princess of fourteen years, and in England 
there was a young prince in search of a wife. Riche- 
lieu brought it about that the two should marry. 
The princess was a Catholic, and he hoped that this 
marriage would make easier the lives of the Catho- 
lics in England. He was glad to do something for 
them, of course, but he was equally glad to form an 
alliance with the Protestant Dutch and Germans, 
because they were enemies of Austria. But while he 
was perfectly willing to marry the French princess 



126 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

to a Protestant Englishman and to join hands with 
Protestant countries if this would help to make 
France greater, he had no idea of permitting the 
Huguenots to become strong enough to have any 
political power in France. There was already war- 
fare between them and the French Catholics. Before 
long it was plain that the party which could hold 
La Rochelle would be the winner. The Huguenots 
had fortified the city and were in possession. Riche- 
lieu besieged it. He had never forgotten his military 
training, and he commanded the siege in person. 
Even after twenty years as a bishop, he was still a 
soldier, and some one has pictured him in full mili- 
tary dress, with two pistols and a sword, and from 
his hat a long white plume floating as he allowed his 
horse to prance and caracole. 

To capture this city was not an easy task. Troops 
could be stationed on three sides, and so prevent the 
sending of food by land; but there was the harbor, 
and it was a hard matter to keep ships from entering 
it, especially as King Louis had very few ships of 
war, and none at all that the defenders of La 
Rochelle could not easily overcome. In earlier strug- 
gles, Richelieu had borrowed vessels of Holland 
and England; but the Dutch did not care to assist 
the Catholics against the Protestants; and as for 
the English, they had before this declared that the 
French had not kept the promises of the marriage 
treaty, and instead of helping Louis, they did all 
that they could to help the Huguenots. They sent 
ships with food, and the French could not drive 



THE RISE OF RICHELIEU 127 

them away. At length Richelieu built of stonework 
directly across the mouth of the harbor a dike or 
mole almost a mile long; and this served his purpose 
well, for now the people of La Rochelle must either 
surrender or starve. They chose to starve. They 
lived on the flesh of horses, dogs, and rats; they 
boiled every scrap of leather that could be found 
and made a nauseous soup of this and any bit of 
green that they could discover. They held out for 
fifteen months, but finally they submitted; that is, 
the few who still lived submitted. 

When the Huguenots had finally yielded, every 
one waited eagerly to see how the king — or rather, 
his minister — would treat them. A few were pun- 
ished as rebels, but nearly all were pardoned. The 
Edict of Nantes was confirmed; the Huguenots were 
as free as the Catholics to practice their own form of 
worship. They were protected and treated with jus- 
tice and considerable favor. Here the cardinal- 
general showed himself a shrewd politician. These 
Huguenots were industrious, thrifty people. Now 
that they were left free in matters of faith, they had 
no grievance against the king, and they became 
loyal subjects. 

Richelieu's third aim was to lessen the power of 
Marie de' Medici and of the nobles. The queen- 
mother was indignant because Richelieu did not 
pay heed to her wishes, and she persuaded Louis 
to send the cardinal away from court. Fortunately, 
it was made clear to the king that this would be a 
great mistake. He and Richelieu had a talk together, 



128 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

and Richelieu unpacked his goods. The cardinal now 
punished severely those who had plotted against 
him, and the queen-mother left court. 

This was a heavy blow to the power of the nobles ; 
but they were even more alarmed and astonished to 
discover that in the rule of the cardinal all men were 
to be equal before the law. For instance, fighting 
duels was terribly common. A careless word or look 
might lead to a fight for life. There was a law against 
dueling, but no one paid any attention to it. Riche- 
lieu made a new law against the practice; but the 
number of duels became no smaller. Suddenly the 
nobles were amazed and aghast to find that the sur- 
vivor of a duel, a member of a wealthy and power- 
ful family, together with the seconds in the affair, 
had been executed as murderers. It was quite in 
style to be reckless of one's life; but to be put to 
death by the common executioner was another mat- 
ter. It is no wonder that dueling went out of fashion. 

The nobles were furiously angry, of course, but 
they were helpless, and they soon learned that under 
Richelieu's sway a man who broke a law was reason- 
ably sure of punishment, and that it would not 
make the least difference whether he was a noble or 
a peasant. Another shock to the notions of the ! 
nobles was the lessening of the number of their for- 
tresses; and still another was the appointment of 
officers to watch over the various provinces and so 
make sure that the nobles in power were governing 
them according to the laws of the land. 

Richelieu died when only fifty-seven years of age, 



THE RISE OF RICHELIEU 129 

saying, almost as his last words, "I heartily pray 
that I may be condemned if I have ever had other 
intentions than the welfare of the religion and of the 
state." In the eighteen years during which he was 
the real ruler of France he was always a friend to art 
and literature ; he made his country the most power- 
ful state in Europe ; and he increased the royal power 
until the sovereign of France was almost unlimited 
in his supremacy. Whether this was for the good of 
the country and its people was left to later reigns 
to make manifest. 



CHAPTER XX 

LOUIS XIV AND VERSAILLES 

Nearly three hundred years ago, a little boy not 
yet five years old, with a mass of golden curls, sat 
in a great armchair and made a speech to the French 
Parliament. He said, "I have come to show my good- 
will. My chancellor will say the rest." This was 
Louis XIV, son of Louis XIII. 

Of course there had to be a regency until the 
little king should be of age. His mother, the queen, 
was appointed. She chose as her chief adviser an 
Italian named Mazarin. He had worked under 
Richelieu, and Richelieu had recommended him to 
become his successor. 

The small sovereign had come to the throne in 
the midst of the "Thirty Years' War." This had 
begun in a struggle between the Catholics and Pro- 
testants in Germany ; but one country after another 
was dragged into it; and as the years passed, people 
actually forgot what the war was really about, but 
kept on fighting for power and territory. Fortunately 
for France, she had a brilliant general, the Prince 
of Conde, and a second almost equally brilliant, 
Turenne ; and when the war finally came to an end, 
in 1646, her territory stretched out on the east to 
the river Rhine. 

In spite of his great ability, Cardinal Mazarin 
was at first a very unpopular man, because he laid 



LOUIS XIV AND VERSAILLES 131 

such heavy taxes on the people. The one that 
aroused them most was laid on all food brought into 
Paris by land or water. The Parisians were indig- 
nant, and the Parliament of Paris declared that this 
should not be permitted. In a day the streets of the 
city were filled with angry mobs, and probably King 
Louis himself heard them crying, "Down with 
Mazarin! Hurrah for our king!" Parliament told 
the queen how dangerous this uprising of the people 
might become. "If harm is done, you shall answer 
for it," she retorted in a rage, and rushed back to 
her room, slamming the door behind her. She and 
Mazarin took the little king, now ten years of age, 
and went away from Paris to a half-furnished palace 
a few miles away. 

These street contests were the beginning of what 
is called the "War of the Fronde." At first the 
Parliament and the people of Paris were on one 
side, and the queen and her friends on the other; 
but before long, it turned into a wild tangle. 
There was a good deal of righting, and there was 
a good deal of calling one another hard names and 
making absurd cartoons of one side and the other. 
The very name by which the war is called is a 
jest, for "fronde" was the name of a little sling 
which boys played with in the streets. All Paris 
sang, 

"A Fronde-ly wind 
Got up to-day; 
'Gainst Mazarin 
It howls, they say." 



132 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

For the greater part of five years this absurd imita- 
tion of war continued. It was often mere amusement 
for the nobles; but for the peasants, whose harvests 
were trampled down, cattle stolen, and homes 
burned, it was anything but amusement. 

Meanwhile a real war between France and Spain 
was going on ; and this did not come to an end until 
the Peace of the Pyrenees, in 1659. Both countries 
were tired of war, but to persuade them to agree on 
terms of peace was not an easy thing to do, and 
even the enemies of the cardinal recognized his rare 
tact and ability. 

Mazarin, however, was planning more than the 
peace. Louis was sixteen years old, and it was high 
time for him to be married, thought Mazarin, but 
who should be his bride? Louis himself was much 
pleased with Mazarin's niece, but the wise cardinal 
knew that such a marriage would not be suitable 
for the King of France, and the maiden was sent to 
a convent. There was a certain princess of Savoy 
who had been proposed for Louis's queen, but the 
cardinal had not worked in vain, and one evening 
late in 1659 he entered the queen's room joyfully. 
"Good news, Madame," he cried. "Is it to be 
peace? " the queen asked. "More than that," replied 
the cardinal. "I bring you peace and the infanta." 
A paper was given to the disappointed princess of 
Savoy, promising her the hand of the king, provided 
the Spanish marriage did not take place within a 
year. 

It did take place, however. Maria Theresa, the 



LOUIS XIV AND VERSAILLES 133 

Spanish princess, promised that neither for herself 
nor any child that she might have would she make 
any claim to the throne of Spain. Spain agreed to 
pay a large dowry, and all went on merrily. 

The cardinal was at the height of his glory. He 
had brought about peace, and he had joined in mar- 
riage the royal families of Spain and France. But 
his health was failing rapidly, and within two years 
after the Peace of the Pyrenees he died. 

Louis was eighteen. He had been declared of age 
five years before, but he had made no attempt to 
lessen the cardinal's authority. "I put up with it," 
he had said long before, "because of the good serv- 
ice he has rendered me; but I shall be master in 
my turn." Mazarin's last word of advice to the king 
had been, "Manage your affairs yourself, sir," and 
Louis followed the advice. The first official who 
came to him after Mazarin's death and asked to 
whom he should go for orders was met by the king 
with a decided "To me." 

Louis did not intend to rule ignorantly, and he 
set to work to understand the business of being 
King of France. For eight hours a day he gave close 
attention to public matters. The courtiers smiled 
behind his back. "That won't last long," they whis- 
pered, but it did last. He had faults enough for two 
kings, but all through his long reign he was an indus- 
trious, persevering worker. If this work had been to 
help the French people, he could have done a great 
deal for them; but unfortunately Louis's one care 
was to win glory for himself. It was his business to 



134 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

command, and the business of every one else to 
obey, this monarch firmly believed. 

Louis was keen to see who could serve him well, 
and for minister of finance he chose an honest man 
named Colbert, who had worked his way up in the 
world by his own merits. Colbert's chief business 
was to provide money for the king by taxation. In 
France at that time the rich nobles and clergy paid 
almost no taxes, while the poor were taxed to the 
last penny. Colbert could not change all this in a 
moment, but he did much to make life easier for the 
poor, for, just as far as possible he had taxes laid 
on houses, lands, income, and luxuries. He intro- 
duced some of the most famous manufactures of 
France, such as the making of china, tapestry, lace, 
and rich materials for dresses. This not only in- 
creased the revenues, but it gave employment to 
thousands of people, and thus France became pros- 
perous. He improved the roads, and they were sadly 
in need of improvement. He made canals, and he 
built ships, both ships of war and merchantmen. 
Colbert was working for the good of France and its 
people, but Louis was working for himself and his 
own glory and amusement. 

In spite of Colbert's excellent management, it 
was sometimes all that he could do to provide money 
for the king's demands. Louis spent a vast amount 
in war, for to him victorious warfare was the great- 
est glory on earth. He began with a war against the 
Spanish Netherlands on the ground that as Spain 
had never paid Maria Theresa's dowry, she was not 



LOUIS XIV AND VERSAILLES 135 

bound by her promise to claim no Spanish posses- 
sions. The two great generals, Conde and Turenne, 
planned the campaigns, assisted by the military 
engineer Vauban, and Louis was successful. More 
territory was added to France, and the country 
became the most powerful in Europe. 

Warfare was not the only way in which Louis was 
extravagant by any means. He loved magnificence, 
and he determined to build a palace that should be 
worthy of even so great a monarch as he thought 
himself to be. This palace was the famous Versailles, 
in which the makers of the Peace Treaty and the 
League of Nations met in 1919. 

The best architects were employed to plan this 
palace. The best artists decorated its walls. Tapes- 
tries, paintings, and carvings were everywhere. 
Orange trees grew in silver tubs ; silver candlesticks, 
chandeliers, railings, and benches were to be seen, 
and a silver throne eight feet high. Everywhere were 
statues and paintings of Louis in different costumes. 
Mirrors reflected the magnificence of the endless 
number of apartments. 

Around this palace was an immense park, sixty 
miles or more in circumference. Here were groves 
formed of large trees brought from a distance. Here 
were lakes and fountains almost without number. 
At first, force pumps supplied them with water from 
the Seine River; but later a stream ninety miles 
away was turned from its course and brought into 
the grounds. Colbert lectured the king in most dar- 
ing fashion on his extravagance. He said bluntly, 



136 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

"It has seemed to me that you were beginning to 
prefer your pleasures and your diversions to every- 
thing else." But the king paid no heed to his wise 
minister. 

Louis gathered to his court the most talented men 
of his time. Here were not only the greatest nobles 
and public men, but also the most illustrious poets, 
scholars, and artists of France. It was a glorious 
society, but Louis's chief enjoyment of it was in 
obliging all these men of talent to pay him rever- 
ence. He taught them that it was an honor to serve 
him in any way, even to hand him his shirt when he 
dressed in the morning. 

Life at Versailles was as extravagant as the palace 
itself. It was always gorgeous, but at any fete the 
costumes were most magnificent. Cloth of silver 
embroidered with silver, cloth of gold sprinkled with 
diamonds, black velvet with great diamonds for 
buttons, head-dresses covered with jewels — it 
reads like a tale from fairyland. Even the every-day 
life of the king was full of ceremony, which he 
heartily enjoyed. Ordinary dressing was with him 
a lengthy proceeding, for each article had to pass 
through the hands of at least two persons. It actually 
required two pages to carry away his slippers. A 
special official presented him with his handkerchief, 
and another official gave him his stockings. 

But this lever, or arising, of the king was not in 
point of ceremony to be compared with his public 
dinners. Merely spreading the table was a matter 
of much form and state. To bring in the food re- 



LOUIS XIV AND VERSAILLES 137 

quired a long procession. Guards, ushers, the "Gen- 
tleman Servant of the Pantry," the "Equerry of the 
Kitchen," the "Chief of the Goblet," the "Chief 
of the Wine Cellars," and a great number of other 
officials formed in line and solemnly marched up 
staircases, along several corridors, through vesti- 
bules and salons and ante-chambers, to the king's 
apartments. It was all very imposing, but the food 
must have been a bit cold before it reached His 
Majesty; and even after it had come, every dish 
had to be tasted before the king touched it, lest it 
should contain poison. There was just as much for- 
mality in eating as in bringing in the food. If the 
king wanted a sip of wine, the cup-bearer cried in a 
loud voice, "The drink for the king!" and it took 
the services of four more people before the wine 
could reach the royal lips. During the dinner, all 
well-dressed persons were allowed to file through 
the room; and people went to watch the king eat 
just as they go now to the circus or the zoological 
gardens to watch the animals fed. 

For forty years King Louis had pretty much his 
own way. His courtiers looked upon him as almost 
a god — or made him think that they did. His wars 
were successful. France had become larger and more 
prosperous, and he had in general much more money 
than was good for him. Then came a change. Maria 
Theresa died, and the following year he married 
Madame de Maintenon, a lady of good family but 
no fortune. She was his wife, but she was never 
recognized as queen. She had been educated as a 



138 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

Protestant, but had become a Roman Catholic; and 
she did much to persuade Louis that he ought to 
permit no Protestantism in his kingdom. He first 
tried to persuade the Huguenots to change their 
faith. Then he commanded all women not of noble 
birth who were found at their religious meetings to 
be whipped and branded. He quartered soldiers in 
the homes of the Huguenots with orders to torment 
them as much as possible. At length he revoked the 
Edict of Nantes. The Huguenots were forbidden to 
leave the country, but two or three hundred thou- 
sand contrived to escape. Most of these were skilled 
workmen, and other countries were delighted to 
receive them. So it was that Louis made his own 
country poorer, while Holland, England, and Ger- 
many became richer through the labor of these 
industrious people. 

In 1688, several of the countries which Louis had 
injured united against him, and after a war of eight 
years he had to restore nearly all that he had taken 
in his earlier attacks. The throne of Spain had be- 
come vacant, and Louis placed his grandson upon it. 
Then Europe was indeed aroused, for if France and 
Spain were united under one ruler, no other country 
could stand against them. The Grand Alliance was 
now formed, a union of Louis's opponents, and war- 
fare went on for twelve years. At its close, Louis's 
grandson, Philip V, was allowed to keep the crown 
of Spain, but Louis had to give back the Nether- 
lands to Austria, and to give up to England the 
French colonies in Nova Scotia. 



LOUIS XIV AND VERSAILLES 139 

Two years after the close of this war, Louis died. 
He left his kingdom deeply in debt, few of its people 
living in comfort, and many of its people beggars. 
Commerce was ruined. Wide stretches of the coun- 
try were left barren. The time of Louis is spoken of 
as the greatest age of France, but that is because so 
many famous men lived in his day — writers, artists, 
generals, admirals, and ministers of state. The heir 
to the kingdom was Louis's greatgrandson, a little 
boy of five years. The dying king realized some of 
his faults, and he said to the little child: "I have 
loved war too much. Do not be like me in that, nor 
in the useless spending of money. Try to improve 
the condition of your people." 



CHAPTER XXI 

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 

If Louis XV, successor of Louis XIV, had been a 
strong, upright man, a vast amount of trouble might 
have been prevented. But with a helpless little child 
for king, and powerful, vicious men for regent and 
prime minister, poor France had a hard time. 

As the years passed, matters grew worse and worse, 
abroad as well as at home. In the "Seven Years' 
War," Quebec was captured by the English general 
Wolfe, and thus France lost Canada. The French 
power in the East was destroyed, and India fell into 
the hands of the English. The French Government 
became so weak and uncertain that the citizens 
despised it. They hoped that when the king should 
die, a change of rulers would better things; but he 
lived on year after year, nearly sixty years of misery 
for his people. 

France in the eighteenth century was not a good 
country to live in. Taxes were terribly high, and 
there were three which the peasants found almost 
unendurable. One of these was the heavy tax on salt, 
especially unfair because each family was forced to 
buy of the Government a certain quantity, whether 
it was needed or not. One required them to labor on 
the roads and other public works whenever they 
were called upon, even though their crops might be 
spoiling in the fields. A third tax was levied accord- 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 141 

ing to the amount that a man's land produced. If 
a peasant adopted wise means of agriculture and 
raised good crops, his taxes increased. If two men, 
one industrious and one lazy, had the same kind of 
land, the man who worked hard and raised a large 
crop had to pay higher taxes than the lazy man. 

This was bad enough, but it would not have been 
quite so hard to bear if all the people had been 
treated alike. On the contrary, the nobles paid 
hardly any taxes, neither did the bishops and arch- 
bishops nor the wealthy monasteries. The peasants 
and the country clergy, who were in general poor 
and needy, were almost the only ones to be taxed. 
The nobles despised the peasants, and the peasants 
hated the nobles. Meanwhile, a group of writers 
had much to say about freedom and justice and the 
rights of men, and tried to make the French under- 
stand how wrong and unfair all this was. People 
began to think. 

When Louis XVI, grandson of Louis XV, came 
to the throne, he was only twenty years old. He had 
never expected to become king and, like other young 
nobles, he had spent most of his time amusing him- 
self. His amusements were innocent enough, for he 
read substantial books; he liked geography and 
mathematics, and he especially enjoyed outdoor 
exercises and making locks and keys at a forge which 
he had set up in the palace. He had married when 
he was sixteen a young Austrian princess, Marie 
Antoinette. She was bright and pretty and charm- 
ing, and if she had tried, she could have made every 



142 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

one love her. Instead of this, she thought of nothing 
but amusing herself. The manners of the ladies of 
the court were much more formal than she had been 
used to in her Austrian home, and their dress struck 
her as comical and old-fashioned. When they ap- 
peared before her, she made fun of them almost to 
their faces. Their banquets were stiff and lengthy, 
and she would not be bored by attending them. She 
liked to go on merry little picnics with people who 
were amused by her witty speeches. She built a 
country house called Petit Trianon, and there she 
used to make butter like a farmer's wife and, dressed 
as a shepherdess, to drive a flock of well-washed 
sheep with blue ribbons around their necks. Her 
husband sometimes played the game with her, and, 
pretending to be a miller, ground grain into flour 
for her to use in her cooking. 

This was harmless, to be sure, but the king and 
queen of France had important duties to the nation, 
and these they were neglecting for amusement. 
Then, too, many of Marie Antoinette's entertain- 
ments cost a great deal of money, so much that it 
was sometimes difficult for the minister of finance 
to pay the bills. Her mother, the Empress of Austria, 
wrote her anxious, motherly letters, warning her that 
trouble would surely result; but the young queen 
went on in her own willful way. 

Louis was upright and kind-hearted and desirous 
of doing all that he could for his people, but he was 
weak, and thought one thing one day and quite the 
opposite another day. Moreover, he was very fond 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 143 

of his wife, and she had little trouble in leading him 
wherever she wished. 

Before long there were stories that the queen was 
using the money of the state for her extravagant 
entertainments. The French hated Austria, and they 
began to speak of the young queen as "the Aus- 
trian." Some even whispered that she was sending 
good French money to Austria. Mobs in the streets 
began to sing, 

"My little queen, not twenty-one, 
Maltreat the folk as you've begun, 
And o'er the border you shall run." 

Whatever might be the cause, the fact was certain 
that thousands of people in France were hungry, 
and even the royal treasury was empty. Louis had 
made a wise financier named Turgot minister of 
finance. He planned to reduce expenses and to tax 
all at the same rate. Then there was an outcry. The 
queen was indignant at the idea of reducing her 
expenditures; the nobles were angry at the thought 
of having to pay taxes; and even the peasants were 
annoyed at the changes which Turgot suggested, 
lest these should result in even worse than had yet 
come to them. 

After a while the king gave up supporting Turgot, 
and a Swiss named Necker took his place. This was 
in the time of the American Revolution; and the 
money with which France helped the American colo- 
nies was another strain upon her resources. Necker 
was dismissed, and matters went from bad to worse. 
With an empty treasury and a hungry people, the 



144 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

queen and court were amusing themselves as usual. 
Louis was unhappy, but helpless. 

Another minister of finance was tried, one De 
Calonne. His plan was to raise money by borrowing 
— but he made no provision to pay even the interest 
on this borrowed money. Necker was recalled, and 
he advised the king to call a meeting of the States- 
General; that is, representatives of the nobles, the 
clergy, and the "Third Estate," or commoners. The 
demand rang from one end of the land to the other, 
and the meeting was called. It was a brilliant assem- 
bly, for king and court came in their plumed hats 
and satin and velvet clothes embroidered with gold 
and jewels. The clergy wore flowing mantles, the 
archbishops in purple velvet, the others in colors 
varying according to their degrees. The Third 
Estate were ordered to wear short black cloaks and 
white cravats, and of course looked far inferior to 
the others in all their gorgeousness. 

The Third Estate were not in brilliant attire, but 
they had done some thinking, especially on the 
question of how the voting should be done. There 
were more of the commons than of the nobles and 
higher clergy together; but it had been expected 
that each order would vote separately. In this case, 
the one vote of the Third Estate could do nothing 
against the two votes of the other divisions. The 
Third Estate, however, demanded that all should 
vote together. This would give them a majority, and 
naturally the nobles and higher clergy refused. The 
Third Estate thereupon named themselves and those 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 145 

of the other two orders who had joined them the 
National Assembly, took an oath not to dissolve till 
they had given France a constitution, and proceeded 
to business. At first Louis opposed, then he yielded ; 
then, on his wife's advice, he called out some Swiss 
and German troops to protect him and keep order 
in Paris. 

There was certainly need of some power to keep 
order. The mob seized bread, wine, and arms wher- 
ever they could be found. They put on cockades of 
red, white, and blue as badges, and for three days 
they raged up and down the streets of Paris. A report 
was spread, "The king is going to break up the 
National Assembly and turn the guns of the Bastille 
upon the city if there is any resistance." And at this 
all Paris went wild. 

The Bastille had been built for a fortress, but 
from the time of Richelieu it had been used as a 
prison, and here men who had offended the king or 
some powerful noble had often been kept for years 
with no trial and sometimes with no charge brought 
against them. Whenever the French people looked 
at its massive walls, they thought of tyranny and 
injustice, and now they declared that they would 
have no more of it. They rushed roaring and howling 
through the streets, and after a five-hours' siege the 
Bastille was in their hands. The governor and his 
officers were murdered and their heads placed on 
pikes and carried about the city with wild shouts of 
rejoicing. 

But where were the king and queen and nobles? 



146 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

They were in beautiful Versailles, dancing and 
feasting and enjoying themselves. They knew that 
there was trouble in Paris, but they had no idea that 
it would affect them. After the king had gone to bed, 
a noble went to his room. "Sire," he said, "the Paris 
mob have taken the Bastille." "Why, that is a re- 
volt!" said the king in bewilderment. "No, sire," 
declared the noble gravely, "it is a revolution." 

Only a few weeks passed before the frenzy broke 
out again. Some new guards were sent to Versailles, 
and the old guards welcomed them with a banquet. 
When the king and queen entered the room, the 
soldiers cheered, tore off their red, white, and blue 
cockades and put on the white ones that were the 
royal emblem. It was not long before the story of 
this banquet reached Paris, and thousands of women 
caught up knives, brooms, pikes, sticks — whatever 
they could find — and rushed off to Versailles. 
"Take us to the king!" they cried. "Give us bread, 
bread!" Louis promised to send bread to them in 
Paris, but that was not enough; he must go with 
them, they declared. The National Guard, with the 
Marquis de Lafayette at its head, arrived and did 
its best to protect the royal family ; but the mob was 
wild with excitement and hunger. Both Louis and 
the queen stepped out boldly on a balcony. "I am 
ready to die," said Marie Antoinette fearlessly. 
Lafayette knelt before her and kissed her hand. 
Even the rough crowd were touched, and she was 
saved. 

But the mob were shouting, "The king to Paris!" 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 147 

and Louis could not refuse. It was a strange proces- 
sion — the king, queen, their two children, and the 
king's sister in a carriage, followed by a hundred 
deputies. Behind them swarmed thousands of the 
worst rabble in Paris, shouting, howling, screaming 
out coarse songs. A drizzling rain was falling. So it 
was that Louis and his queen were taken to the 
Tuileries. This palace had not been occupied for a 
long time. It was forlorn and gloomy, but here the 
royal family spent a year. The king hunted — 
though always in charge of some of the National 
Guards. The queen and Madame Elizabeth, the 
king's sister, sewed and taught the children and 
cared for them, the little six-year-old dauphin and 
his older sister Maria Theresa; and so the time 
passed slowly away in anxiety and dread of what 
might come. 

The National Assembly had now prepared a con- 
stitution according to which the country should 
be governed. Lafayette, representing the National 
Guards, took the oath to observe it. He was followed 
by the National Assembly, and many other bodies 
of men ; last of all by King Louis himself. 

There was a great celebration, and all looked 
promising; but, nevertheless, the royal finances 
were in as bad a condition as ever, and there was no 
one who had the power and authority to make the 
people keep order. A strong king would have en- 
forced the laws, and thus made his own position 
stronger and strengthened his country; but Louis 
was not a strong king. Mirabeau, who was the real 



148 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

head of the National Assembly, could have advised 
and helped him, but Marie Antoinette did not trust 
Mirabeau. Then, too, she had not yet given up the 
hope that by help of the other nations the old times 
might after a while be brought back again. 

Mirabeau had shown himself sensible and reason- 
able. By his eloquence he had generally been able 
to bring the other members of the Assembly around 
to his own way of thinking, and thus had prevented 
much violence. As long as he lived, the king was 
safe; but he died the year after the acceptance of 
the Constitution, and now Louis felt that his life 
was in danger. Three members of the National 
Assembly, Robespierre, Danton, and Marat, were 
now in power. They belonged to what was called 
the Jacobin Club, because it met in an unused mon- 
astery dedicated to Saint James. There were many 
clubs in those times, and the Jacobin was the fiercest 
and most bitter of them all. 

The king had good reason to fear, and he made 
up his mind to flee — or Marie Antoinette made it 
up for him. Many nobles who had before this fled 
from France had appealed to other kings to come to 
the aid of their sovereign. The interest of these rulers 
needed no arousing, for they had been anxiously 
watching the acts of the revolutionists lest trouble 
of the same sort should arise in their own domains. 
A general faithful to Louis was near the frontier 
with some troops. If Louis could come to him, a 
foreign army would be at hand to help him regain 
the power that had slipped from his hands. 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 149 

Unluckily, the heads of the royal family knew 
about as much of the proper way to manage their 
flight as did the little dauphin. Every hour counted, 
but they made their preparations as leisurely as if 
they were going on a pleasure trip. Then, instead 
of trying to slip away from Paris in an ordinary car- 
riage, they rode off in a large new coach of gorgeous 
yellow, with attendants in yellow livery and troops 
posted along the road. The harness broke more than 
once; the roads were muddy; the relay horses were 
not found where they were expected ; and the fugi- 
tives spent twenty-two hours in going sixty-nine 
miles. Of course every one gazed at the big yellow 
coach; and before long they gazed straight into the 
face of the king, for he was so foolish as to show 
himself at the window. The result was that a very 
sober royal family were carried back to the Tuileries, 
and guards were placed about them, even in their 
bedrooms. 

No one knew when foreign troops might invade 
France, and volunteers rushed to Paris. One com- 
pany came from Marseilles, and as they marched 
into the city, they sang a thrilling song which, be- 
cause of the place from which they came, was called 
the "Marseillaise." Its chorus is, 

"To arms, to arms, ye brave! 
The avenging sword unsheath ! 
March on, march on, all hearts resolved 
On liberty or death!" 

The Jacobins determined to attack the Tuileries, 
and the royal family fled to the Assembly for pro- 



150 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

tection. The mad rabble fell upon the beautiful 
palace. They destroyed everything that could be de- 
stroyed, and killed every living creature within its 
walls. The king and his family were carried to prison, 
and every one who was believed to sympathize with 
them had the same fate. Danton was the leader of 
the furious mob. "When we go forth to defend our 
country," he declared, "the Royalists within the 
prison walls will break out, and neither mother, 
wife, sister, nor child will be safe from their revenge. 
Our only safety is to destroy them now." Then be- 
gan a terrible massacre of the Royalists, not only in 
Paris, but all over France. Swords and pikes and 
guns did not do the work fast enough, and an instru- 
ment, known as the "guillotine" was used for be- 
heading people. 

King Louis was summoned before what was called 
the National Convention. He was quiet and self- 
controlled, and he answered all questions with good 
sense and dignity. He was accused of treason, of 
misgovernment, and of plotting against France with 
the enemies of the French people. Many of the mem- 
bers of the Convention would have defended him if 
they had dared; but Danton and the other Jacobins 
triumphed, and it was voted that within twenty- 
four hours he should die. The one favor granted him 
was to say good-bye to his family, from whom he 
had been separated for some time. A few hours 
later, he was taken to the guillotine. " Frenchmen," 
he said, "I die innocent. I pardon my enemies. I 
desire that France — ' ' but the order was given to 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 151 

beat the drums. "Son of Saint Louis, ascend to 
heaven," said the priest who had heard his last 
confession, and the heavy knife of the guillotine fell. 

During reign after reign the people had suffered 
because of the crimes and the mistakes of their 
rulers. This suffering had come to a climax in Louis's 
day, and it would have needed a far wiser man than 
he to rescue the land from the horrors of the Revo- 
lution which was upon it. Louis was kind and brave 
and meant to do his best, but he had not the wisdom 
to save his country or himself. 

Among those who voted for the king's death were 
many who would, as has been said, gladly have done 
otherwise. These and others who were not so savage 
as the Jacobins were known as "Girondists," be- 
cause the chief ones among them came from the 
Department of the Gironde. But the Jacobins were 
the stronger. They threw into prison all whom they 
suspected of disagreeing with them. When the pris- 
ons were full, the prisoners were turned out, hun- 
dreds at a time, old and young, rich and poor, inno- 
cent and guilty, and were guillotined. Even the guil- 
lotine did not work fast enough for the slaughter, 
and crowds of prisoners were made to stand between 
two great ditches. Cannon were fired at them, and 
as they fell into the ditches, earth was shoveled over 
their bodies, many still alive. It is said that fifteen 
thousand of the inhabitants of a single city which 
ventured to resist the rule of the Jacobins were put 
to death in these ways and in others still more 
terrible. 



152 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

The Revolutionists abolished the Christian reli- 
gion, and declared themselves worshipers of the 
Goddess of Reason. To show that the past was 
entirely gone by, they gave up Sunday and declared 
every tenth day a time of rest. The names of days 
and months were changed. The tombs of the kings 
in Saint Denis were broken open and the bodies 
thrown into quicklime. That of Henry IV, who had 
been so loved by his people, was set upright to serve 
as a target for all who wished to stone it. People 
were wild with a frantic rage for blood and destruc- 
tion. Women used to go early to the places of execu- 
tion in order to get good seats for watching the guil- 
lotine do its dreadful work. They carried their knit- 
ting with them, and marked off in their stitches the 
number of the slain. Such was the "Reign of Terror." 

Marie Antoinette, her golden hair turned to gray 
by the horrors through which she had passed, was 
kept in prison. She was quiet and dignified and 
patient. She taught her children and did needlework, 
and so the dreadful days passed. Only a few months 
after the king's death, her children were taken from 
her. The dauphin, who had been so loved and so 
tenderly cared for, was given over to a cruel, brutal 
man. Then the queen was shut into a dark cell, her 
work taken away; and there she sat, waiting for the 
end. It came before many months had passed. She 
was condemned to die, and in a rough cart she was 
carried with fast-bound hands to the guillotine. She 
walked calmly and firmly up the steps of the scaf- 
fold. " Farewell, my children," she said. "lam going 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 153 

to your father." The axe fell. "Long live the Re- 
public!" shouted the crowd. The mad revolutionists 
of France had murdered their king and their queen. 
The little dauphin died from abuse and neglect. His 
sister lived, but her life was always saddened by the 
memory of those fearful days of suffering and terror. 

The three men who had been leaders in these awful 
scenes met the fate that they deserved. A young girl 
named Charlotte Corday was convinced that if 
Marat was only dead, the horrors would cease. She 
pretended that she had important news for him, 
and he consented to see her. In a moment her dagger 
had done its work. But Robespierre, the most blood- 
thirsty of the three, still lived. In jealousy he had 
had Danton put to death, and now he stood alone. 
But the time came when his friends as well as his 
foes feared for their lives, and without regard to 
party they united, and Robespierre himself died by 
the guillotine. 

The worst of the mad fury had come to an end, 
but there were different parties even in the National 
Convention, and whatever party was in power for 
the moment seized the opportunity to behead all 
opponents. At length, however, the country became 
more quiet. Many thousands still in prison were set 
free; and the members of the Convention went to 
work to make a republican constitution, for they 
had decided that France was henceforth to be a 
republic. 



CHAPTER XXII 

LAFAYETTE, FRIEND OF THE UNITED STATES 

In the court of Louis XV was a bright, gentlemanly 
boy who served as a page. He also had the honor 
of being a commissioned officer in the bodyguard of 
the king, to which none but descendants of the most 
highly titled families were admitted. He was a mar- 
quis, he had a large fortune, and altogether he was 
looked upon as being a most lucky young man. 

It was this same fortune, however, which stood in 
his way when it was proposed that he should marry 
a little twelve-year-old countess. "The Marquis de 
Lafayette has too much money," the mother of the 
girl objected. "He has neither parents nor near rela- 
tives, and he is free to spend it as he likes. That is not 
good for a boy." But after a while, when she came to 
know the boy better, she very willingly gave her 
consent. The young man of sixteen and the girl of 
fourteen were married and, as the old story books 
say, "lived happy forever after." 

Two years later, 1776, was the year of the Ameri- 
can Declaration of Independence. Lafayette was 
intensely interested in the struggles of the colonists, 
and he made up his mind to cross the ocean and put 
his sword at their service. His plans had to be kept 
secret, for Louis XVI, who was now on the throne, 
had not decided whether to help America or not. He 
would have liked the Americans to win, and so pre- 



LAFAYETTE 155 

vent England from holding the continent across the 
seas; but on the other hand, he did not wish to join 
them if they were going to lose and leave him en- 
tangled in a needless contest with England. Just 
then the Americans had met with so many defeats 
and misfortunes that it seemed as if they must lose 
the war. 

It is no wonder that King Louis hesitated; but 
Lafayette did not. Mr. Silas Deane, representative 
in France of the colonies, had already, in the name 
of Congress, appointed him a major-general in the 
American army; and although he was told frankly 
how hopeless affairs now seemed and that the Amer- 
icans could not even provide him with a passage to 
America, he merely thanked the commissioners 
courteously and said that he would purchase a ves- 
sel for himself. The king forbade his sailing, and this 
meant that disobedience might bring about the con- 
fiscation of his estates; but he sailed with eleven 
companions, and after a voyage of two months 
landed near Charleston, South Carolina. 

As soon as possible, he presented Mr. Deane 's let- 
ter to Congress, but Congress was in a difficult posi- 
tion. Mr. Deane had given many such letters, and it 
was not easy to determine whether a rich young fel- 
low of nineteen, who had come across in his own 
vessel, was in earnest in wishing to lend a hand, or 
whether he was only an adventurer in pursuit of 
cheap glory. Congress made a very natural mistake 
and told the marquis that there was small prospect 
of an opening for him. A little man would have 



156 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

turned the prow of his ship away from the American 
shores, but this young Lafayette was not a little 
man. He dashed off a note to Congress which said: 
"After the sacrifices I have made, I have a right to 
exact two favors: One is, to serve at my own ex- 
pense; the other is, to serve as a volunteer." Con- 
gress understood now with what sort of man it was 
dealing. His services were gratefully accepted, his 
appointment as major-general was confirmed, and 
before long he was attached to Washington's staff. 

For four years and a half Lafayette worked eag- 
erly for America. He gave his money lavishly; he 
fought brilliantly; he was wounded in our defense; 
he showed himself a wise strategist; and he was suc- 
cessful in that most difficult piece of generalship, the 
skillful management of a retreat. The British gen- 
eral Cornwallis declared that "the boy cannot es- 
cape me." But not many weeks later, "the boy" 
was publicly thanked by Washington for his distin- 
guished service in the capture of the British general. 

The friendship between Washington and Lafay- 
ette was most beautiful. "I love him as a son," said 
the commander to the surgeons who were to care for 
Lafayette's wound. To Lafayette himself the cool, 
reserved Washington wrote, " I love everybody that 
is dear to you." " In your friendship I find a delight 
which no words can express," Lafayette wrote to his 
American friend. Who can tell how much the affec- 
tion of this devoted lover of liberty may have done 
to comfort and strengthen the greatest of Americans 
in his almost impossible task? 



LAFAYETTE 157 

Lafayette's services to America were not limited to 
the field of battle. King Louis had at length yielded 
to the demands of his people, recognized the United 
States as an independent country, and sent a fleet 
to their help. Chiefly through the influence of La- 
fayette, who had returned on a short furlough, he 
was persuaded to send also a land force. Lafayette 
was received in France with the greatest honors, and 
he used his popularity to win favors for America. 
"It is fortunate," said the prime minister, "that 
Lafayette did not want to strip Versailles of its fur- 
niture for his dear Americans, for nobody would 
have been able to resist his earnestness." 

In 1 78 1, at the close of the American Revolution, 
Lafayette returned to France. Marie Antoinette and 
her friends were enjoying themselves. Necker's at- 
tempts to induce her to be less extravagant had 
aroused their wrath, and they were all rejoicing be- 
cause Louis had put De Calonne into his place. De 
Calonne was the borrower who planned no means of 
payment, and when the treasury showed a deficit 
of millions of francs, his only suggestion was to hold 
a "Convocation of the Notables"; that is, men of 
rank or political prominence. Most of the members 
thought only of how to continue their idle, useless 
lives, but Lafayette reviewed the injustice and op- 
pression of the peasants and showed how the court 
squandered the money of the people. "The millions 
which are thrown away are collected by taxation," 
he declared, "and taxation can only be justified by 
the real wants of the state" — rather a venturesome 



158 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

speech, considering that the king's brother was pre- 
siding at the Convocation. 

When the National Association was formed, La- 
fayette did his best to persuade the nobles to unite 
with the commons, but in most cases he failed. He 
himself took his place in the Association, however, 
and there brought forward a Declaration of Rights 
which sounds much like the American Declaration 
of Independence. In this he declared that authority 
to rule was the gift of the nation, that the sole end 
of all government was the public good, that all 
should be taxed in proportion to their means, and 
at the same rate. 

The weeks passed. News came that the king had 
called out troops to defend himself, then that Necker, 
the people's favorite, had been dismissed. The 
attack upon the Bastille followed. After this the 
National Guard was formed, and its command was 
placed in the hands of Lafayette. The people looked 
upon him as so truly their friend that they knew no 
one else so worthy to receive the key of the Bastille. 
This he afterwards sent to Washington, and it is 
now at Mount Vernon. With the key he sent the 
message: "Give me leave to present you with the 
main key of the fortress of despotism. It is a tribute 
which I owe as a son to my adopted father, as an 
aide-de-camp to my general, as a missionary of 
liberty to its patriarch." 

Lafayette had not the slightest sympathy with 
riot and destruction and murder. The king was the 
lawful sovereign of France, and much as Lafayette 



LAFAYETTE 159 

would have been pleased to see his country a repub- 
lic, he stood firmly by King Louis. When the mad 
rush upon Versailles was made, he at the head of 
several battalions of troops followed the mob to de- 
fend the royal family; and to him they owed their 
lives. 

Meanwhile the National Assembly was at work on 
a constitution, or body of laws which should govern 
both king and people. They decreed that rich and 
poor should be taxed at the same rate ; that all men 
should be alike before the law; that there should be 
no titles of rank, but that every man should be ad- 
dressed as "citizen," and every woman as "citizen- 
ess." The Roman Catholic Church held an enor- 
mous area of land in France, larger, it is estimated, 
than the whole of England, and this was to be taken 
away for the use of the new government. Every per- 
son was to be allowed to follow the religion of his 
choice, and, whatever his faith, he could not be kept 
out of office because of it. The whole country was to 
be divided into departments, and the governor of 
each was to be elected by the people of that province. 
Some of the decrees of this Assembly were good; 
others were not good; but at any rate a consti- 
tution had been made, and the king had promised to 
accept it. 

The fall of the Bastille had taken place July 14, 
1789, and it was determined to hold a great celebra- 
tion of the new constitution on the first anniversary 
of that day. A wide, open space often used for drills, 
the Champ de Mars, was chosen for the place of the 



160 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

celebration. The time was short and much was to be 
done to make this ready. To set out with spade or 
pickaxe and work on the Champ de Mars became 
the fashionable amusement. Members of the most 
aristocratic clubs, beggars, priests, soldiers, dancing- 
masters, matrons and dainty young maidens from 
families once ennobled, poets, painters, and monks 
all hastened to show their delight, whether sincere 
or only politic, in the change of government. 

When July 14 had come, there stood on the 
Champ de Mars a beautiful circular temple made of 
posts fifty or sixty feet high, each one wound with 
either white drapery or evergreens, and surmounted 
by a vase of white lilies. From post to post festoons 
of green foliage were drawn. More than 300,000 per- 
sons were gathered in the temple, many coming be- 
fore it was fairly daybreak. 

At ten o'clock cannon were fired, bells were rung, 
and a procession led by a band of music marched 
into the temple. First came Lafayette at the head 
of the National Guards. He was followed by the 
electors of Paris, the deputies of the National As- 
sembly, deputies from the different departments, 
and a long line of men of prominence. In the center 
of the building a broad flight of steps covered with 
handsome tapestry led up to an altar adorned with 
white lilies, and on this lay a Bible and a copy of the 
Constitution. Near the altar sat the king on his 
throne, and not far from him was a pavilion for the 
royal family. Two hundred priests robed in white 
linen and wearing the national colors, stood on the 



LAFAYETTE 161 

altar steps. At their head was Bishop Talleyrand, 
who was to administer the oath. 

Mass was celebrated, then the trumpets sounded 
and the band played as Lafayette ascended the 
steps of the altar. He laid his sword upon the Bible 
and raised his right hand toward the sky. The music 
ceased, and in the silence of the great multitude he 
said in behalf of himself and the whole army, "We 
swear to be forever faithful to the Nation, to the 
Law, and to the King ; to maintain to the utmost of 
our power the Constitution decreed by the National 
Assembly and accepted by the King." Again the 
trumpets sounded, and the people shouted, " Vive 
la Nation! Vive la Nation!" 

After all the representative bodies had sworn, the 
king rose in his place, stretched forth his hand to- 
ward the altar, and swore to maintain the Constitu- 
tion with all the power given to him. Then the people 
shouted, the bands played, the trumpets sounded, 
and the cannon thundered. One would have thought 
that there would be nothing but peace and harmony 
forever after. 

But the king was practically a prisoner; the sol- 
diers were ready to mutiny; the popular Necker had 
to flee to save his life; and when Lafayette tried to 
save the king from insult, the Guards refused to 
obey. Lafayette was so disgusted with their behavior 
that he resigned his command. This aroused the 
whole state. The Guards begged him to resume his 
command, the departments begged, the city of Paris 
begged. "I am thoroughly convinced," said he, 



1 62 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

"that my comrades love me; but I am still to learn 
how far they are attached to those principles on 
which liberty is founded." Finally the mayor of 
Paris and a deputation from the common council 
represented to him that for him to resign the com- 
mand would endanger the state. At this, he yielded, 
and on the following morning he led his troops to 
King Louis to make their apologies. Thereupon Dan- 
ton and Marat and their followers accused Lafayette 
of having been bribed to stand by the king. Placards 
were put up throughout the city and pamphlets were 
published, all to the effect that Lafayette — who 
had put his life and fortune at the service of liberty 
— was a supporter of tyranny ! He was even accused 
of helping to plan the king's attempted flight. 

Lafayette did all that was possible to keep order 
and strengthen the government; but the Jacobins 
had now come into power, and slaughter rather than 
order was what they wanted. Pictures and busts of 
Lafayette were destroyed, the dies of the medal 
which Paris had decreed in his honor were broken up 
by the common executioner, and a reward was of- 
fered for his capture. He saw clearly that he could 
do nothing more at that time for France. The only 
way to save his life for future service was to flee. 

Holland was then a neutral country, and he set 
out for Holland, but was captured by the Austrians 
and kept a prisoner at Olmiitz for five years. His cell 
was most loathsome. A stagnant ditch lay under the 
tiny window in a wall twelve feet thick. A broken 
chair, an old table, a heap of straw were its furnish- 



LAFAYETTE 163 

ings. When it rained, the water poured in until the 
captive was drenched to the skin. 

In such dens as this, each one worse than those 
preceding, first in Austria, then in Prussia, the fear- 
less lover of liberty was kept for five years; but he 
was not forgotten. Washington made a personal ap- 
peal to the Emperor of Austria. Other friends, one of 
them a young man from South Carolina, attempted 
his rescue. One sure way of liberty was offered him. 
If he would join the King of Prussia in plotting 
against France, he would be set free at once. "I am 
still Lafayette," returned the captive indignantly. 
His property had been confiscated, and the money 
sent him by the American minister in France 
brought him many little comforts, and may have 
saved his life. 

Meanwhile the Reign of Terror was at its height. 
The mother, sister-in-law, and niece of Lafayette's 
wife were executed for the crime of noble birth. She 
herself was imprisoned, but, chiefly through the ef- 
forts of the American minister, she was set free. The 
young wife of fourteen had developed into the strong, 
wise, determined woman of thirty-two. She sent her 
son, named for Washington, across the ocean to his 
father's friend for safety; then she made her way to 
Vienna and in disguise succeeded in gaining an inter- 
view with the emperor. He would not free Lafayette ; 
his wife and two daughters might share his imprison- 
ment if they chose; but if they once entered the 
prison, they would never be permitted to leave it. 
Nevertheless, they entered, and what a welcome 



164 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

they must have had ! For twenty- two months they 
remained with him. Then came release. Napoleon 
Bonaparte, in command of the French forces war- 
ring against Austria, demanded as one of the 
terms of a treaty of peace that Lafayette should be 
set free. He had been threatened by the Jacobins as 
a royalist; he had been imprisoned as a republican, 
whose influence in their own kingdoms was feared 
by the kings of Europe. He was never tried, and no 
formal charges were ever brought against him. 

Lafayette could do nothing by returning to France ; 
therefore he and his family remained in Holstein 
from 1797 to 1799, and then made their home a few 
miles from Paris. During the years of Lafayette's 
imprisonment, king and queen had been executed, 
the awful orgy of murder known as the " Reign of 
Terror" had passed, and in the war with the other 
nations of Europe the young Napoleon Bonaparte 
had become the most prominent man in the state. 
Lafayette liked and admired Napoleon, and was 
grateful to him for release from prison, but he did 
not believe that the supreme power which he plainly 
sought was consistent with liberty. "A free govern- 
ment with you at its head," he said to Napoleon, " I 
should like nothing better." 

During the latter years of his life Lafayette saw 
many changes in the French government. In 18 14, 
Napoleon was forced to abdicate. Now was the time 
for the "emigrant" nobles who had left France in 
the time of Louis XVI. They came back in full force, 
and by their aid a Bourbon, the brother of Louis 



LAFAYETTE 165 

XVI, was set upon the throne. He was called Louis 
XVIII, for the little dauphin, the son of Louis XVI, 
is counted as Louis XVII, even though he never 
reigned. 

Before long, Napoleon, who had withdrawn to the 
little island of Elba, off the coast of Italy, made a 
sudden return to France. After he was again driven 
from the throne, Louis XVIII returned from exile 
and reigned for nine years. Then came his brother, 
who is known as Charles X. But Charles X had no 
more sense than to think he could restore things as 
they were before the Revolution. This brought about 
revolt, and Charles was obliged to abdicate. The 
Chamber of Deputies then put upon the throne a 
descendant of a younger brother of Louis XIV. He 
was reigning at the time of Lafayette's death. 

Soon after the close of the American Revolution, 
Lafayette had come to the United States for a short 
time. He begged Washington to visit him in France, 
but unluckily Washington could not speak French, 
and he declared that it would be "extremely awk- 
ward, insipid, and uncouth" to talk through an in- 
terpreter. 

Forty years later, Lafayette became the guest of 
the United States. The country offered him the ship 
which, in 1777, it had been unable to provide, but he 
preferred to come by public packet. He landed at 
New York, then traveled — by carriage, of course — ■ 
to Worcester, Providence, Boston, and Portsmouth ; 
then back to New York, to Albany, Philadelphia, 
Trenton, Baltimore, Washington, and elsewhere. 



166 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

His friends tried to arrange an itinerary, but they 
might as well have saved their pains, for no one 
could live up to any itinerary when such crowds 
were eager to do him honor with cheers and music 
and banners, triumphal arches, fireworks, and can- 
non. There were receptions and banquets and ad- 
dresses and military reviews. There were trembling 
old veterans of the war eager to shake his hand. In 
Providence the avenue leading to the court-house 
was lined with what the old account calls "female 
youth," dressed in white, waving white handker- 
chiefs and strewing flowers in his way, "a simple but 
touching arrangement," the account declares. While 
Lafayette was in Boston, the corner-stone of Bunker 
Hill Monument was laid. Daniel Webster was the 
orator of the day. In the course of his speech, when 
he addressed to Lafayette personally, as the "sole 
surviving general officer of Washington's immortal 
army," words of welcome and appreciation, Lafay- 
ette rose from his seat among the Revolutionary 
officers and remained standing until the close of this 
portion of the speech. 

At Mount Vernon, Lafayette was taken to the 
tomb of Washington, where he knelt in silent hom- 
age to the memory of his friend. He was received by 
Congress, and at a banquet given him by that body, 
he gave the toast: "Perpetual union among the 
United States — it has saved us in our time of dan- 
ger, it will save the world." 

Ten years later, in 1834, Lafayette died. Strange 
experiences he had met in his life of nearly eighty 



LAFAYETTE 167 

years. He had known five sovereigns of France, 
counting the little dauphin. He had known the exe- 
cution of one king and his queen. He had passed 
through revolutions and counter-revolutions. He 
had seen his country ruled by a king and by a mob. 
He had seen her as a consulate and as an empire. 
Across the Atlantic he had beheld a little group of 
colonies win their freedom from the most powerful 
country of Europe, and their population increased 
from 3,000,000 to 12,000,000; and in each one of 
these events he had borne an important and a manly 
part. Surely it was a worthy and a wonderful life. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

NAPOLEON THE GREAT AND THE FIRST EMPIRE 

A few years before Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette 
came to the throne, a boy was born on the little 
island of Corsica who became, before many years 
had passed, far more powerful than they, or any 
other sovereigns of France ever thought of be- 
ing. His parents, Charles and Letitia Bonaparte, 
were Italians, but a few weeks before his birth, 
Corsica became a part of France, and so the child, 
who was named Napoleon, was born a French 
subject. 

When Napoleon was ten years old, he was sent to 
a military school at Brienne. He was small and thin. 
He had not money enough to dress as well as the 
other boys. He did not speak French well, for all that 
he knew of the language was what he had learned in 
a few months' study. He hated France, because she 
had conquered his beloved island, but of course he 
had to keep this hatred to himself. He was proud 
and a little gloomy, and for some time he kept away 
from the other boys. The story is told, however, that 
one very cold winter he proposed building, not a 
mere "snow fort," but a complicated fortification, 
made according to military engineering. He divided 
the school into besieged and besiegers, and the 
struggle between them was so earnest and followed 
military tactics so strictly that for many days it was 



NAPOLEON AND THE FIRST EMPIRE 169 

the great entertainment of the people of Brienne to 
watch the contest. 

At fifteen, Napoleon was promoted to the military 
school of Paris. All expenses here were paid from 
the royal treasury, and the boys had every luxury, 
the softest of beds, the most dainty food, and a serv- 
ant for each to polish his weapons, groom his horse, 
and wait upon him in every way. This boy, however, 
did not approve, and he wrote to the governor urg- 
ing that it would be better for young men expecting 
to undergo the privations of army life not to attempt 
to prepare themselves by living in such luxurious 
surroundings. 

In 1785, when Napoleon was sixteen, he passed 
his examinations for graduation, showing himself 
especially brilliant in mathematics, and now he wore 
a sword in all the glory of being second lieutenant of 
artillery. For some years, however, this was all the 
glory he could claim, for he was stationed at one 
place and another in France with no opportunity to 
show what he could do. 

At length, however, his opportunity appeared. 
As the Revolution progressed, the sovereigns of 
other countries began to be afraid, as has been said, 
that it would affect their kingdoms and their 
thrones. When Louis was put to death, England and 
Holland delayed no longer, but at once declared war 
against France. Russia and Spain soon followed their 
example. In 1793, the troops of the Convention de- 
termined to attack the town of Toulon, near Mar- 
seilles, which was in the hands of the English and 



i 7 o HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

Spanish. The general in command of the artillery 
was ill, and the command was given to Napoleon. His 
years of study had their reward. His management 
of the artillery was a success, and by a plan which 
he proposed in a council of war, Toulon was taken. 

The young soldier received praise in plenty, but 
when he asked for an appointment, the reply was 
always, "You are not old enough." His salary could 
not be collected, and he actually thought of offering 
his services to the Turks, then at war with Russia 
and Austria. "How singular it would be," he said 
to a companion, "if a little Corsican officer should 
become King of Jerusalem!" 

But the way was opening for him. The French 
armies were not succeeding in driving the Austrians 
from Italy. Some one suggested that Napoleon was 
well informed on the subject, and he was asked to 
meet with the Committee of Public Safety. Here he 
showed such knowledge of the Maritime Alps and 
such skill in planning that he was at length put in 
command of the war to be waged in Italy against 
Austria. "The troops are in need of everything," he 
was told, "and we can furnish you with no money for 
supplies." "Only give me men enough," responded 
Napoleon, "and I will ask for nothing more." This 
was a new kind of commander; but he understood 
what he was about, and to the troops themselves he 
said: "Soldiers, you are poorly fed and almost 
naked. The Government owes you much, but can do 
nothing. I am about to lead you into the most fertile 
country in the world. There, great cities and pros- 



NAPOLEON AND THE FIRST EMPIRE 171 

perous provinces await you. There you will find 
honor, glory, and riches. Soldiers of the Army of 
Italy, shall you lack courage for the enterprise?" 
They did not lack. 

Victory followed victory. One of the most famous 
was the crossing of the bridge of Lodi under a terrific 
fire. "It is impossible," said one of Napoleon's offi- 
cers; but Napoleon retorted, " Impossible? There is 
no such word in French." The bridge was crossed, 
and the Austrians were driven back, much to their 
wrath. "The blockhead knows nothing of the rules 
of war," declared an Austrian general. "Who ever 
saw such tactics?" Nevertheless, they were the tac- 
tics that won the day. "The boy has done so well," 
said one of his generals in jest, "that he ought to be 
promoted. Let us make him a corporal." The troops 
heard of this, and from that day dates their pet 
name of the "Little Corporal" for their boyish- 
looking commander. 

After his successes in Italy, Napoleon pushed on 
into Austria, and was approaching Vienna so rapidly 
that the emperor asked for peace. The treaty of 
Campo Formio was signed ; and one of its conditions 
was that Lafayette should be set free. 

Not long before Napoleon received his appoint- 
ment as head of the French troops in Italy, and while 
he was still in Paris in charge of the defense of the 
Convention, a winning boy of some twelve years 
came to see him one day. Napoleon, obeying the 
orders of the Convention, had taken away all arms 
from the people of Paris. This boy had come to beg 



172 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

that his father's sword might be given back to him. 
The father had been guillotined. Napoleon ordered 
the sword to be returned, and on the following day 
the boy's mother called to thank the general for his 
kindness to her son. She had had an eventful life. 
Some years before, the Viscount Beauharnais had 
visited the island of Martinique, in the West In- 
dies, and had met the charming young girl named Jo- 
sephine Tascher. He had married her and brought 
her to the court of Marie Antoinette. Then came the 
Reign of Terror, and only the death of Robespierre 
had saved her from her husband's fate. Beside the 
boy Eugene who had come to Napoleon, she had also 
a little daughter, Hortense. 

Before long, Napoleon and the young mother of 
the two children were deeply in love, and three 
weeks before he set out for Italy, they were married. 
Throughout the campaign he wore her miniature on 
a ribbon about his neck, and he never had too much 
on his hands to write her most affectionate letters. 
One day he found that the glass over the miniature 
was broken. This was a bad omen, he feared, and he 
could not rest till a courier had been sent to make 
sure that she was well. 

Meanwhile there was no government in France 
that any one could expect to be permanent. The 
country was ruled by five "Directors," but many 
people would have been glad to see a king on the 
throne again or to see almost any change giving 
them a strong and wise government that would 
promise to last. But whether people wanted a king- 



NAPOLEON AND THE FIRST EMPIRE 173 

dom or a republic, they were all enthusiastic over 
the victories of Napoleon, and when he returned, 
there was a great celebration, so great, indeed, that 
the Directors felt rather uncomfortable. Authority 
had changed hands more than once. It was quite 
possible that this brilliant young commander, to 
whom the French people were so devoted, might 
even put the Directors themselves out of office. Al- 
ready shouts were heard in the streets, "The Little 
Corporal shall be king! Long live the Little Cor- 
poral!" This would never do. Napoleon must be 
kept out of sight, and then perhaps he would be out 
of mind. They would order him to invade England. 

Napoleon set out with three generals to study the 
coast of France opposite England. For eight days he 
examined it; he talked with fishermen and sailors, 
even with smugglers, and made himself familiar 
with the whole coast. "It cannot be done," he re- 
ported. " It is too dangerous. I will not risk the fate 
of France upon an attack by sea." 

Napoleon had something else to propose, how- 
ever — and for that matter, he always had "some- 
thing else" in mind, some bold plan which no other 
person had thought of; and this time it was to attack 
England, not on her own shores, but through her 
possessions in the East, Egypt first of all. He planned 
not only to conquer, but to colonize, and thus to 
shut England off from Eastern trade and monopolize 
it for France. Therefore he wished to take with him 
a number of scientific men to study the plants and 
minerals and other wealth of the country. The Di- 



174 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

rectors were ready to agree to almost anything, if 
they could only get out of the way the man whom 
they feared, and Napoleon set sail, few, even among 
the officers, knowing where they were to land. 

The English knew that Napoleon had set out with 
his army for somewhere, but where they could only 
guess. All they could do was to send Lord Nelson to 
patrol the waters of the Mediterranean Sea in the 
hope of meeting the French fleet. Nelson cruised 
along the Egyptian coast, and then sailed to the 
northward. Two days later, while he was steering 
for the Hellespont, the French troops landed safely 
in Egypt, rushed on to Alexandria, and captured the 
city. In less than a week, Napoleon had made just 
laws, had regulated the police system, and had put 
under way many plans for schools, manufactories, 
etc. He left three thousand men in charge of the city 
and set off through the desert for Cairo. It was sixty 
miles to Cairo, sixty miles of burning, sandy desert; 
but who could complain when the Little Corporal 
himself marched at the head of the line, slept on 
the sand, and ate the same kind of rations that were 
issued to his men? 

Frequently the Mamelukes, the haughty Egyp- 
tian troops, mounted on Arabian horses fleet as the 
wind, dashed down upon them; but Napoleon was 
equal to even the Mamelukes. He trained his men to 
form hollow squares at a moment's notice and the 
word, " Scientists and donkeys to the center!" — 
for donkeys carried the baggage. These squares, 
keeping in perfect form, marched wherever they 



NAPOLEON AND THE FIRST EMPIRE 175 

were commanded; but when the moment came to 
fight, they faced in four directions, artillery at the 
corners, and the outer ranks kneeling so those within 
could shoot over their heads. It was not easy to at- 
tack a square mass of bayonets, and even when the 
Mamelukes changed their tactics and made a de- 
termined stand, Napoleon won the day. This battle 
took place in sight of the pyramids; and just before 
it began, Napoleon made one of his most famous 
speeches to his troops. He stood, pointing with his 
sword to the mighty tombs of the ancient kings, and 
said, " Soldiers, from these summits forty centuries 
are looking down upon you." It is no wonder that 
they were aroused to do their best. 

In three weeks Napoleon had become master of 
Egypt, but he formed a government in which the 
people themselves should rule. He taught them the 
use of tools that were new to them; he established 
hospitals, set up a printing press, planned two canals 
to connect the Red Sea with the Mediterranean, and 
best of all, won the hearts of the Arabians, for never 
before had they seen a conqueror who did not abuse 
them. More than this, he actually seemed to care 
for them. A poor peasant was slain and his flocks 
carried off by desert robbers. Napoleon ordered an 
immediate pursuit and vengeance. "Was the poor 
wretch your cousin?" asked one of the Arabian 
chiefs rather scornfully. "He was more than that," 
Napoleon replied; "he was one whose safety Provi- 
dence has entrusted to my care." 

But even Napoleon did not always have things as 



176 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

he would. His order to remove the fleet from the Bay 
of Aboukir, at the mouth of the Nile, had not been 
obeyed. Nelson came down upon it, and only four 
ships escaped. This was the Battle of the Nile. Na- 
poleon was deeply disappointed, but all he said was, 
"We must do greater things than we intended," and 
a few months later he marched on into Syria. If he 
could have taken Acre, he might have been able to 
win Persia and India; but the English and Turks 
held on to Acre, and a regretful commander led his 
army back into Egypt. 

It had now been many months since Napoleon 
had heard from France. Sir Sidney Smith, the de- 
fender of Acre, either from courtesy or to show that 
opposition was useless, sent him a great bundle of 
newspapers. He learned now the story of the year. 
He learned that almost all the countries of Europe 
had united against France ; that the French had been 
driven out of Italy; and that all the efforts of France 
could hardly keep her enemies from her own soil. 
What should they do? What strong hand could take 
control? People were asking, "But where is Napo- 
leon? He is strong and wise; he could save us." He 
might have been slain in the East — no one knew — 
but France was longing for him, and he was soon on 
his way to her. With only a little handful of men for 
a guard, he left the army in Egypt and sailed for 
France. 

When the vessel came near the shores of France 
and signaled that Napoleon was on board, the whole 
populace was wild with delight. The people had been 



NAPOLEON AND THE FIRST EMPIRE 177 

fearing an Austrian invasion, but Napoleon would 
save them. They swarmed over his ship. "The vessel 
has just come from Alexandria; it may bring the 
plague," they were warned; but they only shouted 
jubilantly, "Better the plague than the Austrians!" 
When Napoleon reached Paris, bells rang, cannon 
roared, and the streets echoed with his name. In the 
theaters there was a pause in each play for the an- 
nouncement, "Napoleon is here!" What he would 
do, no one could say ; but somehow, he would defend 
them and give them a strong, just government. 

The government of France consisted of the five 
Directors; a senate, which was called the "House of 
Ancients"; and a house of representatives, or 
"Council of Five Hundred." In a little more than 
three weeks, Napoleon had prepared his way. The 
people and the army were with him, some of the 
Directors resigned, others favored him. Of the House 
of Ancients, he demanded the right to draw up a new 
constitution, and they made no objection. The 
Council of Five Hundred was then in session. Sud- 
denly they heard proclaimed from the door, "In the 
name of General Bonaparte, this Assembly is dis- 
solved." There stood Napoleon, and his grenadiers 
with bayonets lowered, ready to charge. This was 
Napoleon's coup d'etat, or blow at the state; that is, 
a sudden change in the form of government. 

By the new constitution France was still a repub- 
lic, but all power was really in the hands of three 
consuls, of whom Napoleon was chief. But neither 
England nor Austria would accept Napoleon as 



178 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

properly the ruler of France. They still declared 
that a younger brother of Louis XVI was the right- 
ful sovereign. Evidently this must be fought out. 
Austria was beaten, both in Italy and on her own 
soil, and she had to sign a treaty agreeing that the 
Rhine should be the eastern boundary of France. 
The English were successful in Egypt, but they, too, 
were ready to sign a treaty the following year. 

Now that there was a little freedom from war, 
Napoleon set to work to care for home duties. The 
most famous of his works is his Code Napoleon, a 
revision of the laws of France. It harmonized those 
that did not agree, and struck out the unfair, op- 
pressive laws. Best of all, it made it clear that in 
law a man was a man, and that all men were to be 
treated alike. 

Napoleon was now made consul for life. A year 
or two later, in 1804, the people were asked to vote 
whether he should be made emperor or not; and in 
all France there were not three thousand persons 
who opposed. France was no longer a republic; it 
had become an empire, and the little boy from 
Corsica sat upon its throne. To make his position 
doubly sure, he now asked the Pope, who was quite 
in his power, to come to Paris and crown him. There 
were magnificent ceremonies at the Church of Notre 
Dame, and the Pope anointed the new emperor 
with the holy oil; but when it came to placing the 
crown upon his head, Napoleon did that for himself, 
and then crowned Josephine as empress. 

But what did the rest of Europe say to this? How 



NAPOLEON AND THE FIRST EMPIRE 179 

were they pleased to see on the throne of France 
this man in no way related to royalty? Of course, 
they united against him — England, Russia, Aus- 
tria, and Sweden — all determined to bring back 
the Bourbon family and put the boundaries of 
France where they had been in the good old times 
of the monarchy. Napoleon was longing to invade 
England, but he had too much to do on the Conti- 
nent. He made a quick march into Austria, and at 
the end of 1805, he won a great victory at Austerlitz 
over the Austrians and the Russians. This brought 
about many changes in the map of Europe, and six- 
teen of the German States formed the " Confederacy 
of the Rhine," with Napoleon for protector. As for 
England, Napoleon had again decided that he could 
not cross the "wet ditch," as he called the English 
Channel, for England was protected by her ships; 
and already Lord Nelson, off Cape Trafalgar, had 
destroyed most of the French navy. 

War followed war. Napoleon overpowered Prussia 
and Russia. England stood firm, but there were 
other ways to attack her than with cannon balls. 
She had forbidden direct trade between France, 
Spain, Holland, and their respective colonies. Na- 
poleon now forbade the Continental powers to ad- 
mit English vessels to their ports or to send ships 
to England; and this caused an immense loss to 
English commerce. Portugal did not obey. There- 
upon Napoleon seized Lisbon, and then Spain. The 
King of Spain fled, and Napoleon put one of his 
brothers on the Spanish throne. Indeed, this con- 



180 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

queror of Europe played with kingdoms and thrones 
as if they were checkers in a game. One brother he 
made King of Holland. A brother-in-law was put 
upon the throne of Naples. Dukedoms and princi- 
palities were arranged just as he chose, and were 
put under the rule of his favorite generals. 

But in all of Napoleon's triumphs there was one 
deep disappointment. The French people had given 
him the right to name his successor, and he had 
no child. Between his ambition and his love for Jo- 
sephine he long hesitated. Then he divorced her, 
and soon afterwards married Maria Louisa, daughter 
of the Emperor of Austria — for the emperor did not 
venture to refuse this powerful suitor. The following 
year a son was born to them, and to him Napoleon 
promptly gave the title of "King of Rome." 

Except for Spain, Napoleon ruled the Continent 
from Austria to the Atlantic, and he had an heir to 
inherit his glory. What more could he ask? But some 
of those who were watching his career saw here and 
there little cracks in the mighty structure that he 
had reared which made them doubt whether his 
power would last. The kingdoms and dukedoms and 
principalities which he had formed were not going 
on as smoothly as he could wish. Of course the 
princes who had lost their thrones were indignant, 
and many of their former subjects were restless and 
discontented. Even in France, Napoleon's power 
showed signs of weakening. The French gloried in 
his conquests, but the country was drained of men 
to fill up the lines of his armies, and the pockets of 



NAPOLEON AND THE FIRST EMPIRE 181 

even the thrifty French people were drained to pay 
the cost of these wars. Then, too, Josephine was so 
gentle and tactful that all the people loved her and 
they were indignant at the divorce. They had looked 
upon Napoleon as one of themselves, sorry for their 
troubles, and bound to do his best to help them ; but 
now that he had allied himself with the imperial 
family of Austria, they felt that he had deserted 
their cause and was striving for nothing but his own 
greatness. 

France was tired of war, but Napoleon still saw 
fields to conquer. The Spanish had not yielded, and 
the English under the Duke of Wellington had come 
to help them. It is easy now to look back and see 
that Napoleon ought to have made sure that Spain 
was subdued, but Russia, as well as Portugal, had 
not obeyed his trade laws, and he was bent upon 
punishing the disobedient country. Straight into 
Russia he and his army of half a million men 
marched. He was eager for a great battle, but the 
Russians had other plans. They slowly withdrew to 
the northward, burning all foodstuffs as they went. 
Napoleon followed until he was at Borodino. Then 
he had his wish. Moscow was only seventy miles 
away, and the Russians decided to try to overpower 
the French at Borodino. There was a battle great 
enough to satisfy Napoleon, and the Russians had 
to retreat. 

Napoleon pursued, for in Moscow there would be 
food and treasures; but when he came to Moscow, 
all was dead silence. The food was gone, and the 



182 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

people were gone. In the course of an hour or two, 
fires broke out in different parts of the city. The 
wily Russians had kindled them and had carried 
away or broken up the fire engines. The climate 
fought for Russia. Napoleon had to retreat as best 
he could. The cold was intense, and as he and his 
men ploughed through the deep snowdrifts, half fed 
and only half clothed, they were attacked by the 
Russians. Bullets, cold, and hunger did their terrible 
work, and out of every five men who had gone into 
Russia, only two ever saw their homes again. 

For the sixth time the countries of Europe were 
united against Napoleon. Wellington had driven 
the French out of Spain. The allies defeated them 
at Leipsic, and soon forced their way into Paris. 
The great Emperor Napoleon was forced to abdi- 
cate. The allies were willing to let him keep the title 
of emperor; but a small empire he reigned over, for 
he was sent to the tiny island of Elba, eighteen 
miles long, just off the coast of Italy. 

Now was the chance for the friends of the exiled 
Bourbons. They seized the opportunity to put a 
younger brother of Louis XVI on the throne, and he 
took the title of Louis XVIII. But the nobles were 
as proud and selfish and insolent as they had been 
in the days of Louis XVI, and the people began to 
wish that Napoleon was in power again. He was 
closely watching what was going on in France. He 
escaped from Elba and landed on the French shores. 
The troops that had sworn to be faithful to the 
Bourbon king deserted in a moment and joined the 



NAPOLEON AND THE FIRST EMPIRE 183 

train of Napoleon, and the people were jubilant. 
Louis XVIII fled, and again Napoleon was Emperor 
of France. 

But again the European countries poured their 
armies into the empire. Napoleon hurried into Bel- 
gium to strike the English and Prussians separately 
before they could unite. He met the Prussians under 
Blucher and was victorious, though Bliicher's army 
was not destroyed. At Waterloo, he met Wellington 
and the English. All day long the fight went on. 
Grouchy was coming to aid Napoleon; Blucher to 
aid Wellington. Blucher arrived first. Napoleon 
made one last charge, but it was useless, and he had 
to flee to Paris and then to abdicate for the second 
time. He wished to go to America, but the allies 
would not permit this. Then he asked to be allowed 
to live quietly in England; but they knew that, as 
long as he was in Europe, there would be plots to 
restore him to the throne of France. He was carried 
on a British vessel to the little island of Saint Helena, 
about half as large as Elba. Even here, far away in 
the South Atlantic, he was carefully guarded and 
watched lest some plot should be formed to rescue 
him. Six years later he died with a whispered "Jo- 
sephine" on his lips. She had died just before he 
was sent to Elba, and he was glad that she had not 
seen his final downfall. Maria Louisa had returned 
to her father's court at Vienna. Napoleon believed 
that some day his son would rule France, and just be- 
fore his death he dictated a long letter of advice and 
affection to be given to him. But the Austrian grand- 



1 84 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

father did not wish the child to have any connection 
with France, and he was brought up strictly as an 
Austrian and was not allowed even to have a French 
attendant. The baby "King of Rome" was only 
three years old when he was separated from his 
father. He worshiped his father's memory, but his 
questions about him were not answered, and he was 
never permitted to read his father's letter. At 
twenty-one he died. 

Napoleon had asked to be buried either in France 
or in Corsica; but it was not until nineteen years 
after his death that his conquerors would permit 
his body to be taken from the island of his banish- 
ment. It now lies under the dome of the Invalides, 
in Paris. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

"napoleon the little" 

After Napoleon was forced to abdicate in 1814, one 
Bourbon after another sat on the throne until France 
was thoroughly tired of both them and the mon- 
archy. First came Louis XVIII, who has been men- 
tioned before. A new charter was made, and Louis 
was perfectly willing to rule according to its provi- 
sions. Indeed, he was more willing than the nobles 
who had now returned to France. Most of them had 
had rather a hard time in their exile, and they 
thought they ought to have privileges enough now 
to make up for it. They were still afraid of Napoleon, 
even though he was so closely guarded at Saint 
Helena, and before long a law was passed that none 
of the Bonaparte family should ever be allowed to 
enter France. Much good it did, as will be seen 
later. 

When Louis XVIII died, in 1824, Charles X, an- 
other brother of Louis XVI, became king. He had 
no liking for the charter, and meant to rule just as 
far as possible in "the good old way." This was the 
way because of which Louis XVI had lost his head ; 
but Charles did not worry about that. When he saw 
that his subjects criticized him, then, in the old- 
fashioned style, he quietly forbade any articles con- 
trary to his views to appear in print. He even pun- 
ished poets for writing poems in praise of Napoleon, 



186 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

who had now been dead for some years. He ought to 
have taken a hint from the fact that the National 
Guards had ceased to cry, "Long live the King!" 
and now cried, "Long live the freedom of the press ! " 
but no Bourbon ever could take a hint. He disbanded 
the National Guard, and thought that he had thus 
quieted all opposition. Then the Chamber of Peers 
and the Chamber of Deputies made it plain that 
they did not approve of his acts, and he dissolved 
them both. 

The badge of the empire had been the red, white, 
and blue cockade; and before long the empire flag 
was planted over great barricades in the Paris 
streets, and fighting began. The king understood at 
last that this rebellion over which the flag of the 
empire waved, showed that France had had all it 
would endure of Charles X, and he wisely took his 
family and boarded a ship bound for England. 

There was now a vacant throne, not a very com- 
fortable one, to be sure, but yet a throne, ready for 
an occupant. Who should it be? Several men whose 
veins contained more or less of the blood royal were 
discussed as candidates. The most promising one 
was a certain Duke of Chartres, afterwards Duke of 
Orleans, a descendant of the brother of Louis XIV. 
Lafayette was sent to talk the matter over with him 
and find out how he was likely to behave if he 
should be made king. 

This Duke of Orleans, Louis Philippe, had made 
a good record for himself. He had served with honor 
in the French army until, because of his drop of 



NAPOLEON THE LITTLE 187 

Bourbon blood, he had been forced to leave France 
to save his life. He took refuge in the mountains of 
Switzerland. His money gave out, and he became 
a teacher in a school. He gave an assumed name, 
and the boys who listened to his lectures on geog- 
raphy, mathematics, and history had no idea that 
"Monsieur Chabaud-Latour" would ever be a can- 
didate for the throne of France. When he left the 
school, he carried away with him enthusiastic testi- 
monials for the good work that he had done. 

He wished to go to the United States, but he was 
too poor. He wandered about Norway and Sweden, 
and even made journeys on foot with the Lapland- 
ers. At length the way opened for him to go to 
America, and he landed at Philadelphia. He visited 
George Washington, went through much of New 
England, then for several years lived in old England. 
When Louis XVIII was put upon the throne, he 
returned to France. He had seen much and thought 
much. Moreover, he alone of all the Bourbons had 
learned by what he had seen. He was delighted to 
find that the French had not forgotten his early 
services. His large estates, which had been confis- 
cated, were given back to him, and he now devoted 
himself to a quiet life with his family and the literary 
men who enjoyed his charming conversation and his 
hospitable home. 

Such was the man whose ideas of what a govern- 
ment should be Lafayette went to find out. Both 
agreed that the Constitution of the United States 
was what they would like to see adopted in France, 



188 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

but that the country was not yet ready to become a 
republic. " It must be in form a monarchy — a pop- 
ular monarchy," said Lafayette, "but the institu- 
tions must be altogether republican." The duke 
agreed. A few days later he was formally invited to 
become King of the French. Both chambers of gov- 
ernment met together, the cannon were fired and 
the "Marseillaise" sung. The crown was offered 
him, and he accepted it and took a solemn oath to 
obey the charter. He was now a full-fledged King of 
France, and he moved into the Tuileries. 

The throne of France was a rather slippery seat, 
and to keep on it the new king had to struggle 
against three parties. One party was satisfied to have 
the land ruled by a king, but they wanted to choose 
the king, and they preferred to see the grandson of 
Charles X on the throne. The second party would 
have nothing but a republic; and the third would 
have nothing but an empire with the "King of 
Rome," whom his Austrian grandfather had made 
Duke of Reichstag, for emperor. 

The Duke of Reichstag died, but not the hopes of 
the Napoleonists. The head of the Bonaparte family 
was now Louis Napoleon, son of Hortense and 
Napoleon's brother. He tried to bring about an up- 
rising in his behalf, but it failed, and the Govern- 
ment sent him off to America. Again he tried, and 
this time the Government sent him to a fortress at 
Ham, and sentenced him to remain there for life. 

It began to look as if Louis Philippe, and after 
him his son, would rule France, but a runaway horse 



NAPOLEON THE LITTLE 189 

changed this prospect, for the son was killed, and 
his little son was only four years old. The chances 
were that at the death of Louis Philippe — who was 
now seventy-four — the country would be left with 
a child for king. This was a condition of affairs 
which did not please even Louis's strongest friends. 

Another difficulty, and the most important of all, 
was the system of voting, for the result of this was 
that representatives were elected, not by the whole 
nation, but only by the wealthy people. The party 
that wanted a republic set to work to bring about a 
reform. They took rather original means to arouse 
the people to see what was needed, for they held 
great banquets in various towns of France, and at 
these banquets made speeches explaining what 
ought to be done. After a while the Government 
realized what an influence the banquets were hav- 
ing, and when an especially large one, to which fif- 
teen hundred people were invited, was announced to 
be held in Paris, it was suddenly forbidden. 

Now there was uproar, indeed. Mobs gathered in 
the streets. People armed themselves, threw up bar- 
ricades across many of the highways, and demanded 
of every passer-by whether he favored reform or 
not. The regular troops in trying to keep order fired 
upon the rioters. This only made matters worse, 
and on the following day a savage mob surrounded 
the Tuileries. Even the National Guard now joined 
the uprising. King Louis Philippe was seventy-five 
years old; he had neither desire nor power to rule 
under such circumstances, and he fled. He was more 



190 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE ' 

skillful in his flight than Louis XVI, for he did not 
depart in a big yellow coach, but ordered a cab, put 
his wife in, and very sensibly and comfortably drove 
away from the city and its troubles, and entered 
England as "Mr. Smith." 

Here was a whole country without a government. 
Paris was running wild, and many feared that the 
awful scenes of 1793 were to be repeated. What was 
to be done? It was not a politician, but a poet named 
Lamartine who came to the rescue. He scolded the 
people good-naturedly and he laughed at them. 
Best of all, he made them laugh at themselves. Then 
the victory was won, and they were ready to listen 
to whatever he had to suggest. Lamartine proposed 
that a number of men, whom he named, including 
himself among them, should rule for the time being 
until a government could be formed. That suited 
the people. This provisional government decreed 
that every man, whether rich or poor, should have 
the right to vote for members of an Assembly. This 
was fair and just, and nine hundred members were 
elected. They decided that they had had enough of 
kings, and that what was wanted was a republic and 
a president. This president was to be elected as the 
members had been, that is, by the votes of all the 
people. Who should it be? 

Now when people are wildly excited, if one man 
keeps calm and serene and has a definite plan, the 
chances are that the others will accept it. In this 
case, although there were several prominent candi- 
dates for the presidency, there was one man who had 



NAPOLEON THE LITTLE 191 

long been planning to become ruler of the French, 
and that man was Louis Bonaparte. He had been 
sent to Ham for life, as has been said, but in 1846 he 
had cut off his mustache, made himself four inches 
taller by wearing high-heeled boots inside wooden 
shoes, put on a blouse, loose pantaloons, an old blue 
linen apron, a cap, and a wig of long black hair. 
He stained his hands red, swung a shelf from his 
bookcase over his shoulder, and quietly walked out 
of prison as a carpenter, leaving a dummy in his 
bed to personate the invalid whom he pretended to 
be, and so delayed pursuit. 

This was the man who appeared in Paris when 
Louis Philippe abdicated. His special agent set under 
way a real Napoleonic "propaganda." Pictures, 
sketches, medals of the first Napoleon and his 
nephew were scattered throughout France; so were 
books and pamphlets about the great Corsican. The 
whole country was made to think of Napoleon, of 
his greatness and his devotion to France and the 
interests of the people. It was not then difficult to 
get the nephew elected to the Assembly, and a little 
later, to elect him as President of France for four 
years. Thus was the Revolution of 1848 carried out 
and for a second time a republic established. 

The new president made himself as popular as 
possible. He wandered about among the workshops 
of the city with a single attendant, helping with his 
purse and with kind words wherever he found need, 
and winning friends everywhere. He put his chief 
supporters into important offices, and strengthened 



192 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

his power in every possible manner. Before three 
years had passed, there was heard among the shouts 
of "Long live the President!" with which he was 
greeted, an occasional cry of "Long live the Em* 
peror!" The minds of the people had been prepared. 

One morning when the Parisians awoke, they 
found the whole city plastered with proclamations. 
These declared that the Assembly was dissolved and 
that a new constitution was to be formed. A little 
later in the day, seventy-eight prominent opponents 
of the president were arrested, most of them in their 
beds, and safely stowed away in prison; the Na- 
tional troops took possession of the Hall of the 
Assembly; and armed forces were stationed at dif- 
ferent places in the city. Of course barricades were 
erected, and bloodshed followed; but within three 
days the whole affair was over. Louis Napoleon had 
had a coup d'etat as well as his uncle. He asked the 
people to vote whether he should be president for 
ten years, with what was in reality absolute power. 
They voted for him — who would not when votes 
could not be dropped into ballot boxes, but must be 
given publicly, and when the voter had to march 
up between two rows of bayonets which were de- 
voted to the service of the new chief? A few months 
later, the president had himself proclaimed Emperor 
of France. He was now Napoleon III. 

Victor Hugo, the French novelist, declared scorn- 
fully that once France was ruled by Napoleon the 
Great, but now she was ruled by Napoleon the 
Little. As a whole, however, matters went on fairly 



NAPOLEON THE LITTLE 193 

well. To be sure, the highest aristocracy of the land 
were inclined to keep away from the court of the 
new empire, no matter how brilliant it might be; 
but, to make up for this, was the fact that the other 
countries of Europe, delighted to see France in order, 
recognized, one by one, Louis Napoleon as emperor. 

This third Napoleon, however, was as eager as 
the first Napoleon had been, not only to rule, but to 
establish a ruling family; and therefore he set about 
finding himself a wife. Of course he would have been 
glad to get one from some royal family, but no royal 
family was anxious to get him. Perhaps this was all 
the better, he thought, for what was more fitting in 
the emperor of a democracy than to marry a bride 
quite without royal blood? The daughter of one of 
the officers of Napoleon I, Eugenie de Montijo, was 
beautiful and charming, and soon she became the 
choice of the emperor. In announcing to the senate 
that she was to be his wife, Louis shrewdly reminded 
the senators that the future empress, being partly 
Spanish, did not possess in France a family to whom 
it might be necessary to give honors and fortune. 

The marriage was celebrated with great brilliancy. 
Then Napoleon set to work to make France the 
model state. In Paris he reared splendid buildings, 
planned a wonderfully excellent system of sewers, 
made parks and wide, handsome streets and boule- 
vards. He and his empress took many journeys 
about the empire, noting where a new bridge or a 
better road or a bit of drainage would be of special 
advantage. Three years after the marriage, the 



194 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

Prince Imperial was born; and now there seemed 
nothing more for the ambitious ruler to ask. 

In the bottom of his heart, however, this peace- 
loving emperor was eager for warfare. War would 
give people something to talk about. A victory or 
two would arouse the enthusiasm of his people for 
their ruler. It might even win over some of those 
who were opposed to him. At the very least, the 
opportunity to gain distinction and promotion would 
bind the army more strongly to its commander. 
Then, too, if France could become the ally of some 
other country of the first rank, his own standing at 
home and in other lands would be much strength- 
ened. 

Just at that time, Russia and Turkey had a quar- 
rel. England was opposed to the Czar of Russia, and 
so supported Turkey, and Napoleon gladly joined 
England. At the close of the war, he succeeded in 
having the peace conference held at Paris. He was, of 
course, the most prominent figure, and both French 
army and French people as a whole gloried in their 
leader. Everything was going Napoleon's way. He 
and the empress visited the English court, and 
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited him. The 
sovereigns were really becoming quite friendly with 
the prisoner of Ham. 

The next chance for the French army was in Italy. 
When the European powers rearranged boundaries 
after Napoleon I was overcome, they gave much of 
Italy to Austria. One of the Italian princes, Victor 
Emanuel, and his minister Cavour urged the Em- 



NAPOLEON THE LITTLE 195 

peror of the French to help them against Austria. 
Napoleon agreed. France and Italy were successful 
everywhere. One of the battles was that of Magenta; 
and in America a new color to which the name of 
"magenta" was given became promptly a favorite. 

A few years later, Italy and Prussia made war 
upon Austria. Prussia won, and now Prussia was 
much the strongest of the German states. 

For twelve years, from 1848 to i860, Napoleon 
had had his will. He had reached the height of his 
glory; the rest of his reign was a slow downfall. 
The climax of his troubles came in 1870. Prussia 
was becoming stronger every year. Bismarck, prime 
minister, the man of " blood and iron," was deter- 
mined that the many German states should unite, 
and that Prussia should be at their head. France 
could not endure the thought of so strong a union of 
hostile countries being formed at her very doors. 
Worse yet, the throne of Spain was vacant, and a 
Hohenzollern prince had expressed himself as willing 
to accept it if he should be chosen. This would unite 
Prussia and Spain — possibly against France, and 
would never do. 

France made her objections clear to the Prussian 
Government, and the prince agreed not to become a 
candidate for the throne. The French ambassador 
then urged King William to make a formal agree- 
ment to the effect that no Hohenzollern prince 
should ever occupy the throne of Spain. This the 
king refused to do. He telegraphed an account of the 
interview to Bismarck, allowing him to make the 



196 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

telegram public or not, as he thought best. Bismarck 
rewrote it, leaving the facts, but changing the tone, 
and, as he himself said, "The original was an order 
to retreat, now it is a summons to charge." He had 
so "edited" the telegram that France felt insulted 
and declared war. This was just what Bismarck had 
been working to bring about. He had seen to it that 
the Germans were well prepared for war, and he 
knew that the French were not. 

The emperor was seriously ill and often suffered 
intensely. He felt no enthusiasm for battle, but he 
and the crown prince of fourteen years at once 
joined the army. Only six weeks later came the battle 
of Sedan, and he had to telegraph to Eugenie, "The 
army is vanquished and in captivity. I am myself 
a prisoner." The tutor of the young prince succeeded 
in getting the boy safely to England. 

Then the German army marched straight through 
France and besieged Paris. For four months her 
brave people bore cold and hunger; but only actual 
starvation could make them yield. In January, 1871, 
they surrendered. The Germans were already in pos- 
session of beautiful Versailles. In the superb Hall of 
Mirrors, King William I of Prussia was proclaimed 
German Emperor. Bismarck had his wish ; the Ger- 
man states had united, Prussia was the chief among 
them, and the King of Prussia and his children after 
him would rule the German empire. The victors 
allowed a three-weeks' armistice so that a govern- 
ment might be formed, and there might be some 
authority with which they could treat. France was 



J NAPOLEON THE LITTLE 197 

now obliged to agree to pay $1,000,000,000 as in- 
demnity, and to surrender Alsace and the greater 
part of Lorraine, which she had captured in the 
days of Louis XIV. 

For everything that had gone wrong the French 
blamed the Empress Eugenie even more than the 
emperor, and she had had to flee from the Tuileries 
to escape from a furious mob. "She was always 
extravagant," they declared. "She is not a born 
Frenchwoman, and she cares nothing for France." 
By the help of her American dentist, she escaped 
from Paris and made her way to England. Queen 
Victoria showed her all sympathy and kindness. 
Her husband was kept a prisoner for a few months, 
then he joined her, but lived only two years after 
the end of the war. The Prince Imperial, whose 
birth had been such a delight to the Napoleonists of 
France, was trained in an English military school 
and graduated with honors. When the Zulu War 
broke out in South Africa, he joined the English 
army and was slain. The Empress Eugenie still lives 
in England (1920), a sad, fragile woman of ninety- 
four, but with what a life to remember! 



CHAPTER XXV 

IN THE DAYS OF MARSHAL FOCH 

It was one of the terms of peace at the close of the 
Franco-German War that the German army should 
march into Paris in triumph. They marched in, to 
be sure, but there was not much triumph about the 
march, for there was no one to see it. The Parisians 
not only kept off the streets, but they pulled down 
the curtains. 

The more the French people thought of their 
defeat, the more indignant they were. They blamed 
everybody. They were furiously angry with the 
Assembly for making such a peace, and with the 
president of the Assembly for signing it. He was 
Thiers, the historian, and in stupid revenge the mob 
burned his valuable historical library. They estab- 
lished a government of their own, which they called 
the Commune, they shut the city gates against the 
Assembly, and they burned the beautiful Tuileries 
and many of the most stately buildings of the city. 
At length, the troops of the Assembly forced their 
way into Paris and established order; but only 
barely in time, for the people were beside them- 
selves with anger and disappointment, and they 
were about to set up a guillotine and repeat the hor- 
rors of the Reign of Terror. To bring such a mob to 
order was not an easy thing to do, but it was done. 
Another thing which was not easy was paying the 



IN THE DAYS OF MARSHAL FOCH 199 

enormous indemnity. Thiers, and, indeed the rest 
of the world, did not think it would be possible to 
make up the sum within the three years allowed; 
but the thrift of the French people paid the final 
franc in less than half the time, and they saw with 
great pleasure the last soldier of the German army 
of occupation march over the border. 

The French could pay this enormous sum of 
money, and they could rebuild some of the structures 
torn down by the Paris Commune, but they could 
not recover the lost Alsace and Lorraine. German 
laws were at once put in force in the two provinces, 
and it was strictly forbidden to use French in the 
schools. 

France was now a republic. A new constitution 
was prepared, and in 1875 it was formally accepted 
by the country. There were no more revolutions, 
and for thirty-nine years France prospered. Like 
other countries, she had her troubles, but she had 
also her glories, and she was making a steady prog- 
ress in all lines when suddenly the World War, the 
most terrible conflict of all time, was sprung upon 
her. The Prussian military party had long been 
eager for war. Germany was perfectly prepared. 
Every able-bodied man in the land had been trained 
as a soldier; guns and ammunition were ready; even 
large quantities of hospital supplies. Her plans were 
carefully laid. She would attack France through 
Belgium, then subdue Russia and England; she 
would open the way "from Berlin to Bagdad " and 
the conquest of the East; she would make a wide 



200 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

strip through Europe, from the Baltic Sea to the 
Mediterranean, her own domain; then she would 
cross the ocean and extort ransom from the large 
coast cities of the United States ; the rest of the world 
could be conquered at her leisure. 

Germany alone was prepared for war, but Bel- 
gium, France, England, and Russia did their best. 
At the end of 19 14, after five months of warfare, the 
most that could be said was that Germany had not 
conquered Europe. At the end of 1915, the report 
was not so very much better. Germany's opponents 
had taken some of her colonial possessions, but on 
the Continent she had not lost a foot of land, and 
had been successful in several places to the east of 
Austria. In 191 6, the powers allied against Germany 
had held Verdun in spite of every effort made to 
conquer it. They had been successful on the Somme, 
in Armenia, and on the sea. On the other hand, they 
had failed in the East. 

In 1917, the United States entered the war. The 
piratical U-boat warfare of Germany had destroyed 
much shipping, but it had brought in this new ally. 
Germany had made gains in Italy, and Russia had 
crumbled; but the Allies had captured Bagdad and 
Jerusalem. And so the news came. The side that 
gained one day lost the next. The whole struggle 
had come to a deadlock. Germany must yield in 
time, but when? How long must the terrible slaugh- 
ter continue? 

Now in every war in which different nations are 
allied, there is one lesson which has to be learned 



IN THE DAYS OF MARSHAL FOCH 201 

afresh, and it is that there must be one supreme 
commander. Thus far the Germans had had a great 
advantage in that they were under one control. The 
Allies cooperated, but the army of each nation had 
its own commander, and unless two commanders 
were near enough to consult, every one went in 
great degree his own way. It was now agreed that 
one man must be in supreme command, and the 
man chosen was Ferdinand Foch. 

He was born in 1851, in a little village in the 
Pyrenees, not so very many miles from where the 
knight Roland laid down his life in Charlemagne's 
day. The boy's grandfather had been one of the 
guards of Napoleon I, and his favorite great-aunt 
was the widow of a general who had been viceroy 
of Holland in the days of the First Empire. Stories 
upon stories of warfare the small boy heard, and he 
delighted in them all, even when his forgetful great- 
aunt insisted upon his remembering events that had 
happened long before he was born. 

The little Ferdinand and his brothers and sisters 
were taught to obey without a question, and there 
is a rather pathetic story of his struggling to be 
obedient and eat peas, which he disliked, and saying 
tearfully, "My heart comes right up in my mouth 
when I crack them; but I really want to obey, and 
so I swallow them at one gulp." 

At eighteen, he went to a college at Metz, and two 
years later he had something harder to endure than 
eating peas, for the Germans had triumphed over 
France in the Franco-German War. The victors took 



202 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

possession of the city and even of part of the college ; 
and the young student, who had just spent six 
months in the French army, was obliged to live in 
the same building with them, and submit to their 
demands and insults with outward deference and 
inward wrath. 

Long afterwards he said that in those days he 
vowed that Alsace and Lorraine should be once 
more in the hands of France, and that the French 
should not remain a conquered people. His aim was 
to prepare to help in the rescue of his country, when- 
ever the time should come, and he did fine and earn- 
est work at the Polytechnic School in Paris. After 
graduating, he held one military position of honor 
after another for several years, and then was made 
professor at the War School in Paris. 

This new professor had not forgotten his boyish 
vows. The young officers who listened to his lectures 
were to become, not merely part of an army, but 
the brains of the French army, authorities in whose 
hands would rest making plans for the forces that 
might some day be called on to defend France. It is 
no wonder that he taught with an eagerness to give 
them his best. He taught them that, although the 
commander-in-chief is the commander-in-chief and 
all others must obey him, yet difficulties will arise 
in carrying out the commander's orders, and there- 
fore, to obey efficiently, an officer must be able to 
think for himself. He taught them that they must 
study the enemy, learn to guess what he is about to 
do, and watch for his weak points. He taught them 



IN THE DAYS OF MARSHAL FOCH 203 

that victory is first of all a matter of belief; that the 
army which firmly expects to win the fight is well 
on the way to success. He taught them to be cheer- 
ful. "Depression is a confession of intellectual weak- 
ness," he said. "Depression has lost more battles 
than any other cause." 

The great menace to France was Germany, and 
Foch analyzed with his students the war of 1870, 
noting carefully the mistakes on both sides, and 
making plan after plan to oppose any German inva- 
sion. He had not expected Germany to toss her 
agreements aside and march through Belgium, but 
he had a plan carefully thought out to oppose her 
even there. The Germans said sneeringly that Foch 
learned all his strategy from them. Even if this had 
been true, it is not what a man learns, but how he 
uses it that counts. 

Such was the man who, in March, 191 8, became 
commander-in-chief of the Allied armies. He had 
already made a fine record at the Marne and at 
Ypres. Every one knew the story of his famous dis- 
patch to Marshal Joftre at the Marne: "My right 
wing has been driven back; my left wing is crushed; 
I shall attack with my center." Another tale is that, 
when one of his officers hesitated to advance because 
his men were worn out, Foch responded, "So are the 
Germans. Attack!" 

For the spring of 191 8 the Germans had prepared 
to make a gigantic offensive on the Western Front. 
They made it, but unluckily for them the methods 
of this new commander-in-chief were different from 



204 HERO STORIES OF FRANCE 

theirs. They believed in elaborate preparation, then 
a drive, then more preparation, then another drive, 
and so on. Foch believed in "keeping on going on," 
in hammering away at them steadily, first in one 
place, then in another, wherever they showed signs 
of weakness. 

The Americans came just in time to turn the tide 
that threatened to overwhelm Paris; and at Sedan, 
where, half a century earlier, Napoleon III had been 
obliged to give up his sword to William of Prussia, 
the final blow was struck. The French were at work 
west of the American troops; the English were 
striking hard in Flanders; in Siberia, Palestine, on 
the Italian Front, and in the Balkans the Germans 
were losing. Turkey and Austria were out of the war. 
Germany begged for an armistice, which was in 
reality an unconditional surrender. The terms of 
this surrender, severe, but just and strictly in 
accordance with military rule, were read to the 
German representatives by Marshal Foch. He had 
kept the vow of his school-days. Alsace and Lor- 
raine were rescued; France was no longer a con- 
quered nation. Foch rarely talks of his victories, 
but when he does, he always ends reverently with, 
"We were the instruments. God was there." 



THE END 



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